Orbán rejects EU pressure

After the Hungarian Prime Minister told the European Parliament that he will not yield to what he called ‘blackmail’, commentators weigh the pros and the cons of voting for or against the Sargentini report.

On Mérce, Bálint Misetics lambasts those Hungarian MEPs who reject the Sargentini report on the state of the EU values in Hungary. Although he admits that the report contains several factual mistakes, he agrees nevertheless, with its ‘cautious’ main statement that those values are in ‘jeopardy’. He accuses those Hungarian MEPs who refuse to support the Sargentini report, especially Tamás Meszerics of the LMP, of being prompted to do so by fear of ‘the terror press’ within Hungary.

On Azonnali, LMP MP Péter Ungár takes up the defence of his colleague and suggests that the opposition should stop behaving like ‘the local salesmen’ of the EU leadership. Hungarians are unlikely to support the idea that more power should be given to those European leaders who have proven to be incapable of taking decisions in times of crisis, he argues. He concludes therefore that as long as the opposition frames the stakes within Hungary as a choice between ‘Orbán or Europe’, Orbán’s victory is guaranteed.

In a short comment on his Facebook page, political scientist Gábor Török predicts that after some of his closest allies within the European Peoples Party decided to support the Sargentini report, Mr Orbán can no longer remain within that Christian Democratic group – nor will he want to. He will move towards his new allies on the radical right, Török opines.

Tags: EU, Orbán, People's Party