Gergely Gulyás said the behaviour of former Fidesz MEP József Szájer, who on Wednesday quit the party after being caught escaping from a scandalous house party and breaching lockdown rules in Brussels, was “incompatible with Fidesz’s values”.
Though Fidesz will not forget or repudiate Szájer’s 30 years of service, “his actions are unacceptable and indefensible”, Gulyás said, adding that Szájer had made the right call by apologising, stepping down from his position as an MEP and quitting the party.
The PM’s chief of staff was also asked about a motion by members of the European People’s Party (EPP) for a vote on expelling Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch from the political family’s European Parliamentary group over comments he had made comparing the EPP and its group leader Manfred Weber’s support for the European Union’s rule of law mechanism to the Gestapo and Stalinist dictatorial methods. Gulyás said Deutsch’s remarks were “tactful and witty” compared with what EPP leader Donald Tusk had said in the past about the Hungarian prime minister. “One cannot be punished for exercising their democratic right to express their opinion,” he said. Deutsch’s comment was not aimed at anyone in particular but was rather meant to criticise a procedure that provides no constitutional guarantees and doesn’t serve to safeguard legal certainty, either, Gulyás said. Asked if Fidesz would quit the EPP if Deutsch were to be expelled from its EP group, given though he is the head of Fidesz’s Brussels delegation, Gulyás said the party would first wait for the final outcome. So far the only parties that have backed the vote on Deutsch’s expulsion are ones that have repeatedly demanded Fidesz’s expulsion from the grouping, he added.
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