Fidesz MEP: ‘Brussels’ world remains corrupt, politically manipulated’

“Angel, a new EP vice president, fits fully in the well-known, trendy world that dominates the policy line in Brussels,” Balazs Hidveghi told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio’s morning programme. “This can be partly seen in his LGBTQ activism as well as his involvement in sham attacks the [EP’s] Socialists mounted against governments and countries guided by Christian Democratic principles and national sovereignty,” he said.

Angel “has been elected to fill a post that became vacant after its previous holder, the Socialists’ Eva Kaili, was put behind bars”, Hidveghi said.

A post of vice president should have gone to a representative of Identity and Democracy (ID), a right-wing conservative group launched in the EP in 2019, to reflect proportions in the EP, he said, adding however that ID politicians “get excluded practically from all ways of operation” including “the possibility to fill posts”.

Hidveghi noted that the Fidesz group had supported Annalisa Tardino, the Italian ID candidate for the post, but “this centre left, left-wing alliance held the line again, unfortunately with the support of the European People’s Party”. “Nothing is changing, this is the same corrupt and politically manipulated world of Brussels we already know so well,” he said.

In connection with Kaili, the Hungarian MEP referred to an EP programme led by the politician which promoted an anti-child pornography and anti-child abuse software with the inclusion of a US-based company. “This would mean that the personal data of tens of millions of Europeans might be obtained and handled by an American firm,” he said. Hidveghi called the case “a textbook example of corruption” involving a large foreign company paying a huge amount of money to selected politicians willing to allow them access to influence politics.

He called the proposal on eradicating graft and foreign interference in the EP a “good for nothing” bill, arguing that in the current corruption case of Brussels “it is the institutional system that is corrupt, that can be bought and can be manipulated”. “And this all affects the European Parliament, the European Commission and other players,” he said.