March 3, 2021 - 11:23am
Today’s breach between Fidesz and the European People’s Party (EPP), Europe’s alliance of moderate conservatives, is dramatic. Rather than see his MEPs ignominiously expelled from EPP’s parliamentary delegation, Viktor Orbán made good on his threat to leave the group. Today Fidesz’s Families Minister announced in an open letter that the party’s MEPs were resigning their EPP membership.
The split is the logical outcome of Orbán’s flouting of EPP party discipline by campaigning alongside leaders of rival (far-) Right parties from other EU states ahead of May 2019’s EP elections and his public denigration of Weber — then EPP’s candidate for Commission President. Shortly after, in September 2019, he antagonised the group further by saying at a meeting of the ‘post-fascist’ Fratelli d’Italia party in Rome that he stood ‘a little to the Right’ of its leader Giorgia Meloni.
Following Fidesz’s exit, will the EPP now take more assertive steps in tackling the Hungarian Party’s challenge to EU norms? This looks unlikely in the short term. EPP’s centre of gravity, for now at least, remains in Germany’s governing CDU-CSU alliance. Close commercial links between the two countries means that Berlin has strong financial incentives to continue appeasing Fidesz or, as the CDU leaders put it euphemistically, to ’maintain a dialogue with Budapest’.
New CDU leader (and Angela Merkel’s likely successor as Federal Chancellor) Armin Laschet is unlikely to adjust this course given his background as Premier of North-Rhine Westphalia: his state has larger capital investment in Hungary than any other in Germany. Unsurprisingly, Laschet’s rise has been warmly welcomed by Fidesz-controlled media in Hungary.
More significant is the question of where Fidesz goes from here. In international circles, Fidesz has attacked Hungary’s Left-liberal parties for entering into an electoral pact with formerly fascist Jobbik but domestically it has taken exactly the opposite approach: berating Jobbik for betraying ‘the national cause’ by joining forces with liberals and socialists.
Which leaves Orbán with two choices: either he can join the ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) — home of Polish allies PiS — or a rival group, ID (Identity and Democracy) guided by Marine Le Pen’s radical-Right National Rally (NR).
Alignment with ID was hinted at in 2019 and, less conspicuously, in 2020. On 10 December, Orbán dispatched Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on a lightning tour of meetings with ID party leaders in Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands — all within a day. The tour represented a striking departure from diplomatic protocol because Szijjártó did not meet heads of government, but rather, the heads of opposition parties in their respective countries.
If Fidesz were to join ID, the party would be third largest in terms of MEPs (behind Le Pen’s NR and Salvini’s Lega). But more than that, Orbán could wield disproportionate power in the group because Fidesz — unlike the other ID members — controls a government. For a start this would give the hard Right Euro-party its first seat on the European Council — the body which “brings together EU leaders to set the EU’s political agenda.” Furthermore, if Fidesz joins ID it would bring access to financial resources that only a governing party can unlock.
Fidesz is already expanding its influence in Brussels, by using public money to nearly treble the budget of the SZMPA — which is a ‘party-foundation’ (i.e. a state-funded think tank closely aligned to the political party itself). The increased funding is being used to establish a Brussels operation. With a budget of 4 million euros, SZMPA’s spending power is now ahead of some Euro-parties and has facilitated the purchase of 500+ sq metres of office space in Brussels’ prestigious Schuman Square. For comparison, Renew Europe (the liberal Euro-party) is run on a budget of just 2 million euros out of a 156 sq meter office.
Perhaps, then, Europe’s far-Right is about to join Fidesz rather than visa-versa?
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SubscribeThe term far-right is I think thrown around a little too broadly in this article. Some of the parties named as such are hardly conservative by many standards. Fidesz itself seems more nationalistic than anything else.
The term ‘far right’ is thrown around too broadly everywhere you look.
Agreed. Our political discourse would benefit greatly from more precise use of language. This tendency among the commentariat is lazy at best and more often used to insinuate an underlying bias.
I’ve been saying for ages (on Unherd and elsewhere) that we should never forget that the terms “left” and “right” in politics are metaphors. We should, ideally, stop using them and debate the content of particular policies.
I just automatically convert the term “ far-Right” to “the Peter Shore bit of the Labour Party”.
Quite amusing musings from Faludy.
As others already pointed out, the terminology (“far right”, “post-fascist” “hard right” etc.) is grossly inaccurate, i’m not sure why Unherd is sticking with that bigoted vernacular.
Yes, Jobbik (the actual far right, antisemitic / antiroma party of occasionally paramilitant activities) has indeed horseshoed itself into an awkward brotherly embrace with the frazzled ragtag bunch of socialist / farleft / liberal oppositional particles, just for opposition’s sake. And there they shall remain, in opposition.
As for Fidesz, i think it wasn’t quite a bad move to ditch the EPP at last. I would probably vouch for the ID to join, both Salvini and Le Pen are in strong ascendency with well-established impeccable credentials. Then again, i don’t know much about the ECR – but if PiS is already in there, it might be better for all concerned to increase ID’s might with Fidesz’s joining.
I wish Hír TV would put English subtitles on their programmes, as there’s absolutely zero credible reporting on Hungary in the Anglophone press/media.
What piffle. The media in Hungary is quite probably the most diverse in Europe in terms of party/political affiliations. Much of it in fact has remained in the old-regime comrades’ backyards, ever since 1989.
Superb posting and a good deal more informative than the hand-wringing “where-are-my-smelling-salts?” article.
Thanks, Simon!
Had to look the columnist up – and alas, my suspicion was correct, he’s a grandson of one of my favourite Hungarian authors, György Faludy. Sometimes the apple falls a tad afar from the tree, so to speak…
On the note of “Jobbik” – the only one thing i like about them is their choice of name: it’s a wordplay; in Hungarian “right” (~ hand, ~ side, etc.) is “jobb“, which translates verbatim to “better” in English (“good” being “jó“, “best” being “legjobb“). “Jobbik” exists only in comparative sense (used as in “better than ~”). In the party’s name, ‘Jobbik’ plays equally on the “righter” and on the “better(er)” meaning.
I’d watch it in preference to the BBC
I would watch North Korean TV in preference to the BBC.
Eh, i like me some Dad’s Army, and i grew strangely addicted to Doc Martin too. It’s just the constant grind of wokery what makes much of the beeb’s output intolerable, but i think with selective watching one can still find some decent content here & there. I enjoy Lucy Worsley (even though she has to tack on the occasional ‘red tail’ to pass the woke requirements), and that Scottish bloke Neil Oliver.
There’s only so many times you can watch the Dear Leader tour a valve factory and point at stuff. The news when they launch a new missile is enjoyably OTT. Japanese TV invariably shows clips. My go-to for entertainment if stuck in a hotel is RT. I literally do watch it in preference to the BBC or the US ones. It’s as if they started it as satire then had to try and take it seriously when people believed them. Infotainment with a smirk.