European Interest

Greens: To Orbán or not to Orbán that is now the question

Flickr/European People's Party/CC BY 2.0
“For a long time EPP has regularly opted for minimally invasive methods when it came to adressing Orbán's provocations," said European Green Party co-chairs Reinhard Bütikofer and Monica Frassoni.

Commenting on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s campaign to undermine the EU, the European Green Party co-chairs Reinhard Bütikofer and Monica Frassoni said:

“For a long time EPP has regularly opted for minimally invasive methods when it came to adressing Orbán’s provocations. They would at best see to it that they could not be accused of not saying anything at all. But as minimally invasive methods might work medically, they are much less convincing in this case. EPP cannot avoid the hard decision which Orbán is putting before it.

“It will be a tough choice for EPP, but necessary. Either EPP accepts Orbán’s extremist views as a normal part of European Christian democracy, or it makes a clean break. If EPP spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber wants to stand even the slightest chance of following in the footsteps of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, he cannot hope this issue goes away. Hic Rhodus, hic salta.”

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