Orbán’s Fidesz resigns EPP after MEPs vote on new suspension rules
Hungarian right-wing party resigns EPP membership over vote intended to allow group to suspend parties not in line with EPP
3 March 2021, 12:54pm
by MaltaToday Staff
The Hungarian right-wing party Fidesz has resigned its membership in the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, over an intra-party vote on suspending errant member parties.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán informed Manfred Weber, the chairman of the centre-right EPP group in the EP, in a letter shortly after the vote was taken.
“The amendments to the rules of the EPP Group are clearly a hostile move against Fidesz and our voters. Limiting our MEPs’ ability to carry out their duties as elected Members of the European Parliament deprives Hungarian voters from their democratic rights. This is antidemocratic, unjust and unacceptable. Therefore, the governing body of Fidesz has decided to leave the EPP Group immediately,” Orbán told the German MEP.