A commemoration honouring 1956 planned in EP to spite Fidesz, while two committees turn down hearing with Szijjártó

The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) has proposed a commemoration on the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight in the European Parliament (EPP) next week, Szabad Európa has reported.

According to the paper's Brussels correspondent, it is not difficult to discern the intention of the EPP-member Tisza Party and the parliamentary group behind the move to respond to the recent statement of Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister's political director, who drew a parallel between 1956 and the war in Ukraine, and said that “Based precisely on '56, we probably would not have done what President Zelensky did 2.5 years ago”. The paper says it is uncertain whether the initiative will be backed by a majority on Wednesday. (The final programme of the meetings is drawn up by the group leaders' conference.)

The article also recalls that the parliamentary group – which Fidesz was a member of until 2021 and KDNP was a member of until June this year – recently said it was time for Viktor Orbán to leave in a social media post, although the paper's sources pointed out that similar posts have been published before.

Meanwhile, Népszava's Brussels correspondent has learned that two EP committees are not planning on hearing Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. Last week, PM Viktor Orbán presented the programme of the Hungarian Council presidency to the entire plenary.

The same is traditionally done in the EP's committees specialized in a particular subject by the ministers responsible for that area. Holding the hearings is not mandatory, but it is common practice, given that the EP and the Council normally decide on EU legislation together.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade would be assigned to the Trade and Foreign Affairs Committees. As Szabad Európa reported earlier, the latter had originally invited Szijjártó for 30 September, but the minister was traveling to Washington at that time. "The European Parliament has made Péter very happy, because he can say no to them knowing that he is right," a government source told the paper, commenting on the situation.

According to Népszava, at first Levente Magyar, State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry was offered as a replacement, but he was not available either, so they offered to send Tristan Azbej, who doesn't even work at the Foreign Ministry, but leads the State Secretariat for Persecuted Christians at the Prime Minister's Office. He was turned down by the committee on the grounds that his remit has nothing to do with the issues they wished to discuss.

According to Népszava, the committee decided on Monday that as the Hungarian presidency was coming to an end, there was no point in hearing Szijjártó.

A similar decision was taken in the Committee on International Trade on the grounds that the presidency is already past its half-way point, according to Népszava.

As Népszava notes, the EU's Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is led by a permanent High Representative, Josep Borrell, making Foreign Affairs the only department of the Council not chaired by a minister from the state holding the rotating presidency. At the end of August, Borrell effectively moved the informal Council meeting originally planned for Budapest to Brussels. Szijjártó called the move a childish reaction reminiscent of kindergarten. The High Representative's decision came after Viktor Orbán's "peace mission" in early July, accompanied by posts using the presidency logo and ambiguous statements, with all but one member state condemning the trips. The EP has previously repeatedly disputed the Hungarian government's suitability for the presidency.

We have sent questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade about the Népszava article, and will report back when the ministry responds.