Magyar to Weber: Tisza Party will gladly join the EPP

“I received the president of the European People’s Party in Budapest. Manfred Weber and I reflected on how much has changed in Hungary since the days of hate campaigns funded by billions in public money came to an end,” Péter Magyar wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning. According to the Hungarian Prime Minister, Weber said that, as a Bavarian politician, supporting Hungary had always been important to him, and that, “on a personal level, he had found the smear campaigns against him, driven by Viktor Orbán’s grievances particularly difficult to bear.”

Magyar told Weber that Tisza will gladly join the European People’s Party once the EU institutions have closed the Article 7 proceedings initiated against Hungary.

Manfred Weber offered his help in finding a solution so that Hungary would not have to continue paying a daily fine of one million euros because of the asylum rules implemented in relation to protecting Europe’s external borders. According tot he Hungarian PM, he made it clear to the president of the European People’s Party that Hungary will continue to safeguard its borders and said that during the negotiations on the new EU budget, he would request that the fines imposed so far be waived.

Magyar also wrote that, following Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, he would be hosting António Costa, President of the European Council, in Budapest, with whom he would discuss the EU’s new seven-year budget and the challenges facing Europe.