Orban on Path to Ouster From EU Party After ‘Impossible’ Demands
- Europe’s Christian Democrats to discuss controversy March 20
- Orban’s Fidesz party urges dialog before key EU-wide elections
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The ultimatum that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban received to avoid expulsion from the European Union’s biggest political group is all but certain to go unmet, potentially sharpening battle lines between mainstream forces and nationalists ahead of crucial EU-wide legislative elections.
In a front-page story on Wednesday, pro-Orban newspaper Magyar Nemzet called a trio of demands by a leading EU Christian Democrat “impossible to fulfill.” That was seconded by a member of Orban’s Fidesz party in the European Parliament, reinforcing the sense that momentum was building toward the ouster of the Hungarian contingent from the political family -- known as the European People’s Party.