Criticism of the EU was also not spared at the closed meeting of the Hungarian Fidesz party in Kotse. “We need change in Brussels,” Viktor Orbán posted on social media. Balazs Orban – political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister, who is not related to Viktor Orban – explained: The EU is headed for collapse. The “Budapest Zeitung” quoted him as saying, “The institutions of the EU have been hijacked by a warmongering, corrupt elite who, with a series of wrong decisions, are causing serious damage to Europe and the community. “are impairing competitiveness.”
Only conservative parties can suggest a way out, but they will have to orient themselves to the right and strive for cooperation with right-wing parties. Viktor and Balazs Orbán are eyeing the upcoming European elections in 2024, where they hope for an even stronger mandate from voters.
Opinion polls show a strengthening of the right in all major EU countries. “We believe that the so-called centre-right parties of the EPP should not work with the left. We have seen what this leads to: Europe has been going into the trough for five years,” Balazs Orbán said, summarizing the Hungarian prime minister’s statement in Kotzé. The EPP should therefore cooperate with other parties on the right-wing spectrum.
Balazs Orbán noted an important principle of Fidesz’s European coalition policy: “Fidesz finds its allies in all those who think in terms of a Europe of nations. We do not want a European empire, we want a Europe of nations! “
It is unclear which faction Fidesz will join in the EU Parliament. For example, MEP Tamás Deutsch sees Fidesz not in the EPP, but in the European Conservatives and Reformers group. Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kovar was more cautious about this. After the last EU elections, Fidesz voluntarily left the EPP due to serious differences with the leadership of the EPP parliamentary group around CSU politician Manfred Weber.
Hungary’s Christian Democratic People’s Party, the KDNP, is still a member of the EPP.
