You're reading: European Christian Democrats meet to decide what to do with Hungarian strongman Victor Orban

BRUSSELS – The European People’s Party, the biggest and the most influential political family of the center-right parties in Europe, starts a serious discussion to have or not to have the Hungarian party Fidesz, led by Prime Minister Victor Orban, as a member.

Joseph Daul, the EPP’s president, told journalists in Brussels on Oct. 17 that party leaders, heads of states and government who gathered today ahead of the European Union summit, requested a “family discussion.”

“This will be a family discussion; the heads of states and government and party leaders are invited to attend today summit, and we will have a serious discussion with Victor Orban.”

He explained that, for now, the Fidesz party can’t be expelled or suspended despite its authoritarian leanings because there is no request in writing from seven parties, which is required to start such an action. “I can’t apply statues because I did not receive a letter. Following today’s discussion, we will see how the party will react following this internal family discussion.”

Daul also called himself a friend of Orban.

“I always defended him, but I also have to defend freedom, democracy, rule of law, fundamental freedom, respect for human rights, free civil society. These are the fundamentals of the union and the values of our party. I’ll not compromise on these values,” Daul said.

The pressure on the EPP to expel or to suspend Orban’s Fidesz is growing after the European Parliament passed a motion last month declaring that Hungary is at risk of breaching the EU’s core values. It decided to initiate the so-called Article 7 procedure against Budapest, citing concerns rollbacks in Hungary’s judicial independence, the corruption fight, freedom of expression, academic freedom, the rights of minorities and migrants, and other issues.

Moreover, Orban — who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been waging war against Ukraine since 2014 — has taken steps to block Ukraine’s closer integration with the 28-nation EU bloc, alleging that a new language law promoting the use of Ukrainian comes at the expense of Hungary’s ethnic minority, which numbers more than 100,00 people living mainly in western Ukraine near the Hungarian border. Ukraine denies the discrimination charges.

During the 2015 EU Summit, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called Orban a  “dictator” and in a recent interview to Le Monde, he said that  Orbán “no longer has a place” in the EPP. “Although I respect the man, I see many incompatibilities between his words and the Christian democratic values on which the EPP family is based,” Juncker told.

The discussion might be going on during the upcoming EPP Congress in Helsinki on Nov.  8 and 8 where the EPP will nominate its lead candidate — Spitzenkandidat — who will be the future president of the European Commission if the party wins parliamentary elections in May 2019.

In the case, if the EPP continues to keep Fidesz as a member, this can be used by other political parties during the campaign as an argument for voting against EPP. Orban’s political liability may force the EPP to expel Orban.

The EPP currently includes 77 member parties and partners from 41 countries, the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament, 8 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 14 members of the European Commission and the largest group in the European Parliament.

Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna and Vitali Klitschko UDAR parties in Ukraine are EPP members. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc, the leading faction in parliament with 135 out of 422 members, is still awaiting an EPP decision on membership.