Even the right-wing conservative ECR group around Giorgia Meloni’s “Fratelli d’Italia” joined in: In a resolution passed on Wednesday, the EU Parliament, with a large majority, criticised the recent uncoordinated trips by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to autocrats such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping as a “blatant violation of the EU treaties and the EU’s common foreign policy”.
It stresses that “the Hungarian Prime Minister cannot pretend to represent the EU when he violates the EU’s positions.” The 495 MPs who voted for the resolution also reaffirmed their support for Ukraine.
It was the very first resolution of the newly elected Parliament. It was supported by the European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the Liberals Renew and the Greens. The resolution is not binding, but is considered an important signal.
Dissenting voices from the fringes
137 MPs voted once morest the resolution, 47 abstained: rejection came from the extreme fringes: on the one hand from the newly founded far-right group “Patriots for Europe”, which includes Orban’s Fidesz party, the FPÖ, the RN from France and the Lega from Italy, among others. On the other hand, partly from the European Left.
From Austria, the FP delegation members voted once morest the resolution. The blue delegation leader Harald Vilimsky described Orban on Wednesday as “the only voice in this madhouse of Europe that speaks out for peace.” His “peace mission” would be punished with “boycott and sabotage.”
VP delegation leader Reinhold Lopatka, on the other hand, said it was “right that Orban’s solo action is being denounced.” But: “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to weaken ourselves further while we’re at it,” said Lopatka regarding the boycott of the Hungarian Council Presidency announced by the EU Commission.
Orban is playing a “terrible double game,” said Neos delegation leader Helmut Brandstätter: “In Hungary he explains how terrible the EU is. Then he goes to autocrats and dictators and explains to them that he is acting for the EU. That is wrong, that is harmful for the EU.” For the Green delegation leader Thomas Waitz, the Hungarian prime minister is “unfit to work with his behavior.” It is “right that many ministers say that this is a waste of time.” However, according to Waitz, withdrawing Hungary’s voting rights in the EU Council will not succeed, as this would require unanimity. The member state concerned is exempt, but “it is not possible with Slovakia at the moment.”
Austria’s black-green federal government remains divided on the question of whether it will join the EU Commission’s boycott of meetings of the Hungarian Council Presidency. The Greens welcome the move. Chancellor Karl Nehammer (VP), however, sees the boycott as an unsuitable means, as reported.
VP-Hörl: “Greens intolerable”
Yesterday, the outgoing VP National Council member Franz Hörl added fuel to the fire of the coalition dispute. He called the Greens “unacceptable” and accused them of “forgetting history” with regard to the sanctions once morest Austria in 2000.
“Hörl’s statements alone are unacceptable and unnecessary,” said Barbara Neßler, the Tyrolean Green National Council member, in an equally sharp response. Hörl also criticizes Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) “with his unqualified statements.”
