Following a meeting between leaders of the EPP Group in Brussels and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, S&D Group president Udo Bullmann said:

 

"For the last eight years Viktor Orbán has been eroding the basic principles of democracy in Hungary. He has attacked NGOs, journalists, and now even seems to be turning his sights onto the judiciary. Despite all of this, the supposedly pro-EU EPP Party, of which his is a member, continues to say nothing. This makes the EPP ultimately culpable for the slide of Hungary into illiberal democracy. I hope that my colleagues, EPP Group president Manfred Weber and Party president Joseph Daul, have finally told Mr Orbán that enough is enough.

 

"As an OSCE report published last month showed, there are serious concerns about the state of democratic elections in Hungary. The continuous attacks on independent media mean that parliamentary elections can no longer be called completely free or fair. Mr Weber, Mr Daul, yours is the Party of great pro-Europeans like Robert Schuman, Alcide de Gasperi, or Konrad Adenauer. They must be turning in their graves seeing what their Party has become. If you truly believe in our common European project then do the right thing and finally tell Orbán to shape up or get out of the EPP family."