The centre-right wing of the European Parliament welcomed Peter Magyar, a thorn in Prime Minister Orban’s side as he seeks to relocate from Budapest to Brussels.
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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s most formidable political opponent, Péter Magyar, has joined a group of MEPs that previously counted the Hungarian prime minister as a member.
The centre-right grouping of the European People’s Party (EPP), which had sheltered Prime Minister Orbán’s Fidesz party until 2021, opened the door to the Respect and Freedom of Hungary (TISZA) party in Tuesday’s vote in Brussels, meaning that TISZA’s seven MEPs elected in June’s European Parliament elections will join the largest bloc in parliament.
A former insider in Prime Minister Orban’s far-right government, Magyar shocked Hungarians earlier this year by revealing his experiences with Hungarian government corruption and the country’s propaganda system, blowing the whistle on what he called a “mafia state”.
He led TISZA’s campaign in the run-up to the June vote, which saw it win an unprecedented 30% of the Hungarian vote, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Orban’s Fidesz party, which, despite remaining the largest party, received less than half the vote (44.8%) in an EU referendum for the first time since Orban returned to power in 2010.
Magyar had previously said he would not run for European Parliament but on Monday he backtracked by putting the decision to a public vote on his Facebook profile.
Magyar said a majority of the 100,000 voters voted for the party to move its seat from Budapest to Brussels, prompting him to take up his semicircular seat.
Still, Magyar vowed to continue challenging Orban’s grip on power at home, saying he would “work for change in Hungary.”
“The change has begun. This is the beginning of the end of Fidesz,” Magyar told reporters.
“I am proud that we are led by the European People’s Party, the largest group in the European Parliament, and can truly represent the interests of the Hungarian people. He (Orban) is not so lucky,” Magyar said, adding that his TISZA MEPs would seek power in parliamentary committees to shape EU legislation in areas such as industry and the environment.
Prime Minister Orban’s Fidesz party now has no political foothold in the European Parliament, further limiting the influence of its MPs.
But above all, Magyar vowed to fight to restore the rule of law in his country, where democratic backsliding is well known since Orban came to power.
“Brussels did not really understand the situation in Hungary. Brussels and the European Parliament helped Prime Minister Orbán play this game in Hungary and use the Article 7 procedure and the rule of law procedure for his own political purposes,” he said, implicitly criticising Brussels.
For years, the EU executive has withheld funding from the Budapest government in retaliation for continued violations of the rule of law, allowing Orban to launch a fierce anti-EU campaign at home.
Magyar also argued that this was hindering Hungary’s economic development.
“We are now the second poorest member state in Europe and officially the most corrupt,” he said, “so people are fed up with corruption, lies and propaganda.”
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), said: “It is great to see a party that is raising the issues we need in Hungary joining the EPP.”
“This is a clear message that the Hungarian people want an alternative political perspective,” Weber added, referring to TISZA’s strong performance in June’s European Parliament elections.
Hungary clarifies position on Ukraine
Although Magyar is currently Hungary’s most credible political opponent, he describes himself as deeply conservative and has emerged as an opposition figure, an alternative to the centrist and left-wing parties that have sought to challenge Orban’s government.
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This means that he partly shares the Hungarian Prime Minister’s position on the war in Ukraine.
“President Putin is the aggressor, Ukraine is the victim, and the Ukrainian people have the right to defend their territory,” he explained, “But we share the government’s position: we will not send troops or weapons from Hungary to Ukraine.”
The EPP has repeatedly insisted that any partner, let alone any member of the group, must be staunchly “pro-Ukrainian.”
Hungary’s Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP), a minor party in Fidesz’s governing coalition and which has seats in parliament’s European People’s Party group, announced late Tuesday its intention to leave the party.
The KDNP argued that the EPP’s “pro-war” stance could no longer be tolerated.
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Magyar had previously said he would only join the EPP if the KDNP left or was expelled. The plan is believed to have been coordinated by EPP leader Manfred Weber, who visited Budapest last Friday and met with Magyar and KNDP leader Zsolt Semjen.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the European People’s Party (EPP) group welcomed a total of 14 new members, including seven MPs from Hungary’s TISZA, as well as representatives of the Dutch Farmers and Citizens Movement (BBB) and the New Social Contract (NSC), the Danish Liberty Alliance, the German Family Party and the Czech Mayors and Independents party.
This strengthens their position as the largest group in the European Parliament. Although these parties join a parliamentary group, they do not necessarily become members of the pan-European European People’s Party.
TISZA’s entry into the European Parliament comes just three years after the European People’s Party expelled lawmakers from Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s far-right Fidesz party from its group amid an ongoing debate over the rollback of democracy in Hungary, which has been branded an “electoral dictatorship” in a European Parliament resolution.
