Former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been re-elected for a second term as European Council President, despite Poland’s current right-wing government did its best to prevent him to continue.
Jarosław Kaczyński, head of the the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło had hoped fellow eurosceptic Prime Minister of Hungary would join them in opposing Tusk, however, Viktor Orbán declined to undermine the candidate of his centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) group.
János Lázár, the Hungarian Cabinet Chief said on Tuesday, that Hungary had tried without success to mediate a compromise between the European Council and the Polish government, which intended to nominate MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski for the post. Hungary’s ruling parties were sympathetic to the Polish view but were duty-bound to vote with the EPP”, Lázár noted.
In Brussels, the Hungarian Prime Minister pointed out that Hungary’s governing parties – both the Christian Democrats and Fidesz – belong to the European People’s Party, therefore Hungary supports EPP’s sole joint candidate. Hungary will leave any further debate on this matter to those involved in domestic political life in Poland, he added. “We have made every possible effort to pave the way for a sensible compromise” but it was a battle that Poland could not win, he said. The decision must be accepted even if there is a member state that refuses it, he said. Orbán said the decision did not influence the Polish-Hungarian alliance, and Hungary would continue to take a firm stance to repel unjust attacks on Poland.
While many PiS sympathizers from Poland expressed their fury on the official facebook page of the Hungarian Premier, Jarosław Kaczyński said that although he was vastly disappointed with the Hungarian Prime Minister’s decision to support to Donald Tusk, he can understand him due to the enormous political pressure Germany puts on the members states of the EU. “Tusk’s appointment shows the European Union is dominated by Germany”, he insisted.
via hungarymatters.hu, MTI and theguardian.com
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