No top positions for Fidesz' PfE in EP committees, while Magyar and two Tisza MEPs elected as vice-chairs

The European Parliament (EP) committees are being formed on Tuesday. In these committees, MEPs will prepare decisions in small groups on specific topics before they are presented to the whole EP, and will also organize fact-finding missions and set up hearings. Which committee each member would join had to be decided by last Friday.

Each committee elected its chair and four vice-chairs at Tuesday's inaugural meetings, (with a few of the vice-chairs to be elected later). Based on its size, Patriots for Europe (PfE), the group formed among others by Hungary's bigger governing party, Fidesz has applied for the chairmanship of the transport and culture committees. Like the vice-chairs, they are also elected by a majority and are usually agreed in advance by the political groups, but the EP's rules of procedure also state that senior posts "must ensure a fair representation of political views".

The PfE, like Identity and Democracy (most of which has been absorbed into the new group), was previously also "quarantined" by the loose grand coalition of the centre-right EPP, the socialists and the liberals during the election of the EP's vice-presidents and quaestors. Consequently, none of the PfE candidates received a majority, including Fidesz MEP Pál Szekeres, who was in the running to become one of the quaestors.

According to the EP's statement, the Transport and Tourism Committee ended up appointing a leader from the EPP, while the Committee on Culture and Education elected its chair from the Green Party. Fidesz MEP Annamária Vicsek wrote on Facebook that the leadership of the Transport and Tourism Committee had been "hijacked by the People's Party. For this reason, after an excellent speech delivered by our candidate for chair, our group walked out of the chamber in protest."

According to PfE's First Vice Chair Kinga Gál, "The mainstream parties have made a shameful political deal with the leadership of the European People's Party to prevent the Patriots from getting the committee positions we are entitled to according to the European Parliament's rules. They are breaking EP rules, defying the rule of law, defying democracy and ignoring the will of millions of European voters. This is unacceptable", "it will backfire" and we intend to use "all available legal remedies".

The other question was what seats the Tisza Party would get.Népszava previously reported that based on its size, their delegation in the European People's Party, the largest EP parliamentary group, Tisza may even have a chance of winning a few vice-presidential or even presidential posts.

Péter Magyar has been elected vice-chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, while András Kulja, a former surgical candidate with a Tik-Tok channel on health education has been elected vice-chair of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (see our interview with him here). Gabriella Gerzsenyi became one of the vice chairs of the Committee on Regional Development.She welcomed the decision by saying: "It is a joy and an honour that from today I get to be one of the driving forces behind the European Parliament's Committee on Regional Development.”

A week ago, Magyarsaid that quarantine "does not fit into their concept of democracy", and that he would support Szekeres' quaestorship. Fidesz MEP András László, on the other hand,accused the Tisza MEPs of being involved in the "robbery" because Kulja's seat should have been allocated to the PfE.