Nazi comparison in the EPP: parliamentary group leader Weber has a new problem with Hungary

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EPP parliamentary group leader Weber: No comment on calls for Tamás Deutsch to be expelled

Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP

The dispute over the new rule of law mechanism in the EU budget divides the Christian Democrats in the EU Parliament.

In a letter that SPIEGEL has received, 30 members of the European People's Party (EPP) are calling for the Hungarian Tamás Deutsch to be thrown out of the parliamentary group - and putting parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber under considerable pressure.

With the planned mechanism in the EU budget, the payment of EU funds will depend on compliance with the rule of law.

Poland and Hungary absolutely want to prevent this and are therefore blocking the next seven-year budget and the EU's Corona reconstruction package with their veto.

Weber's argument for the mechanism: Those who obey the law have nothing to fear.

Tamás Deutsch, party friend of Hungary's autocratic head of government Viktor Orbán, therefore brought Weber closer to the Nazis: his actions are reminiscent of the Gestapo and the former Hungarian state security authority Avo.

Even the advocacy of the entire EPP for the rule of law mechanism came close to being oppressed by Nazis and communists.

"Tamás Deutsch must no longer undermine the credibility of the EPP group"

EPP group member Othmar Karas

That was too much for the Austrian parliamentary group member, Othmar Karas.

On Tuesday, Karas sent an email to all EPP MEPs calling for them to sign a letter to Weber and the rest of the group.

The content: The demand for the expulsion of German from the parliamentary group.

His statements are "shocking" and "shameful".

"Tamás Deutsch must no longer undermine the credibility of the EPP group," says the letter.

At the next parliamentary group meeting on December 9th, one would have to vote on his expulsion.

Weber keeps a low profile

What is remarkable about the process: Weber himself keeps a low profile.

He did not publicly respond to Deutsch's failures, and Weber did not want to comment on the exclusion of the Hungarians operated by Karas and his colleagues.

Internally, however, the pressure on the CSU man is growing, and insiders are already speaking of an impending rebellion.

Karas is said to have given his parliamentary group leader the choice: If you don't do anything, I'll do something.

That has now happened in the form of the letter.

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Hungary's Prime Minister Orbàn (archive image): provocations without consequences

Photo: CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS

But it is by no means certain whether Deutsch will actually be thrown out of the parliamentary group in the end.

According to the EPP rules of procedure, at least half of its 187 MPs would have to take part in the vote and two thirds of them would have to support the exclusion.

At least 63 votes in favor would be necessary, more than twice as many as the previous 30 signatories.

The debate brings the EPP's ongoing problem with Fidesz back into focus.

The Orbán party's EPP membership has already been suspended, but the party family has so far not been able to bring itself to expel the Hungarians - which was largely due to the resistance of the Germans.

This time too, Fidesz-Mann Deutsch can hope for the support of the CDU and CSU.

Two of its 29 MPs signed the call for Germans to be expelled, the North Rhine-Westphalian CDU politicians Dennis Radtke and Markus Pieper.

Daniel Caspary, chairman of the CDU / CSU group, has spoken out in phone calls with various parliamentary group members to avoid signing the letter.

"I assume that Deutsch apologizes to Manfred Weber and the parliamentary group," Caspary told SPIEGEL.

"We shouldn't fall for every provocation from the Orbán environment."

The EPP is threatened with embarrassment - one way or another

From the parliamentary group, it is said that Weber was on the brakes when Deutschs were thrown out - partly because he did not want to distract from the much more important question of the rule of law mechanism.

Others, however, think that the German expulsion should be used as an opportunity to clarify the Fidesz question once and for all.

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"We must finally find a clear stance on this matter," said CDU man Radtke to SPIEGEL.

"We can no longer put that off." Sure, other parties would also have problems with rule-of-law offenders in their own ranks.

"But before we point the finger at others, we first have to tidy up our own house."

The letter campaign threatens to damage everyone involved.

If German is thrown out, there is a risk of further escalation with the Hungarians - because Fidesz is still in Parliament and the EPP.

If, on the other hand, there is no two-thirds majority in the vote, not only Karas and his fellow campaigners would be embarrassed.

The EPP, too, would once again have proven to be a party family that is unable to find a clear line against budding autocrats in its own ranks.

It is also uncertain how the veto against the budget and the EU's corona package will continue.

At the EU summit in mid-December there should be a showdown.

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