Tusk To Decide In January If Orban Stays In EPP

Europe's centre-right political grouping will decide in late January whether to keep the party of Hungary's nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban in their ranks, the EPP's newly-elected president Donald Tusk said Thursday

Zagreb, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Nov, 2019 ) :Europe's centre-right political grouping will decide in late January whether to keep the party of Hungary's nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban in their ranks, the EPP's newly-elected president Donald Tusk said Thursday.

The conservative European People's Party (EPP), which is holding a two-day congress in Zagreb, suspended Orban's Fidesz in March because of his government's anti-Brussels and anti-immigration poster campaign.

The campaign accused outgoing European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and liberal US billionaire George Soros, Orban's bete-noir, of plotting to flood Europe with migrants.

The campaign has since been dropped and Orban has apologised for insulting partners from the EPP, though the pan-European party's leadership warned this was not sufficient.

An EPP internal report over the issue is being prepared and is expected to be completed in December, Tusk told reporters.

"Then I will start a very intensive consultation," the former European Council president said.

Tusk, who made an impassioned speech against populists and autocrats before he was formally elected EPP president on Wednesday, said his "intention is to have a decision about this issue at the end of January".

Commenting on Orban's policies, Tusk said: "My opinion is quite clear (about) the illiberal democracy, and this is, if I understand well, the main idea of Orban." However, he added that the internal debate over Fidesz's fate within the EPP was a "very complex and delicate problem".

"I can't agree with some political narrative and some political decisions ... represented by Orban, and at the same time, we are really close friends and we have also some things in common," he said.

The EPP brings together Europe's main centre-right parties, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU or the Republicans in France.

It is still the largest group in the European Parliament but is under increasing pressure from far-right, liberal and green rivals, who all made gains at the last elections.

The temporary suspension of Orban has split the grouping, with concerns from some that the Hungarian leader will team up with right-wingers such as Italy's far-right opposition leader Matteo Salvini.