Prime minister says he would however rather stay in and reform the European People’s Party.

Hungary's ruling party will discuss an alliance with Poland's conservative Law and Justice if it leaves the center-right European People's Party, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday.

"Pro-migration politicians attacked us in the European People's Party," the prime minister told state-owned Kossuth Rádió. These politicians want to transform the EPP into a "pro-migration international organization," he added.

"If it turns out that we need to start something new in Europe, and it's possible that this will be the end of the debate, that our place is not ultimately in the [EPP] but outside it — though I would rather achieve the [EPP's] transformation [and] reform, for example, that there would be place in it for anti-migration forces like us — but if there's a need to start something new, then obviously the first place where we will negotiate is Poland," Orbán said.

Members of the European People's Party are set to discuss the membership of Orbán's Fidesz in the center-right bloc on March 20, after a dozen parties called for its suspension or expulsion.

"We have multiple options," Orbán told listeners, noting that it will be Fidesz deciding whether to stay or leave the EPP.

"There are big discussions going on," the prime minister said, revealing that he spoke with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker earlier this week, as well as the EPP's leader in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber and other leaders. There will be another conversation with Weber, he said.

The prime minister said that he will travel to Poland on Sunday for a NATO event and that Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will visit Hungary on March 15, a Hungarian national holiday, and will give a speech in Budapest.



https://www.politico.eu/article/vikt...-ruling-party/