Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Orban said he would have pulled his party out of the EPP if the wording of the suspension had been unacceptable

The ruling party of Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been suspended by the European Parliament's biggest grouping in a row over defiance of EU policies.

In an almost unanimous vote, the European People's Party (EPP) agreed to withdraw Fidesz's voting rights.

Before the vote, Fidesz officials had threatened to pull out of the EPP if it was suspended.

However, Mr Orban reacted defiantly, saying "we cannot be excluded".

Although the suspension stops short of complete expulsion, the decision comes as a blow for the Hungarian leader on the eve of an EU summit.

After a heated debate and 190 votes in favour of suspension, the party decided to accept the result, with Mr Orban even suggesting that it was a "joint decision".

But the penalties for Hungary's ruling leader are clear and immediate. He will not appear at a meeting on Thursday with other EPP leaders such as Germany's Angela Merkel and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ahead of the summit.

"Practically it means that Fidesz cannot any more present candidates for posts in the party, they cannot vote any more for any kind of EPP assembly and they are even not any more allowed to participate in any meeting," said EPP leader Manfred Weber.

But the vote is also potentially bad news for the centre-right bloc, which faces European Parliament elections at the end of May. While the EPP is an alliance of about 80 parties, Fidesz has a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliament, making it the country's dominant political force.

The party will now be assessed by three "wise men" who will decide whether it is in breach of the centre-right bloc's values. The length of the suspension is unclear, but it will last beyond the European elections.

Why has Fidesz been suspended?

The final straw for many centre-right parties in Europe was an anti-immigration poster campaign that featured unflattering photos of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

Image copyright kormanyzat/facebook Image caption Hungarian government poster: "You too have a right to know what Brussels is up to!"

Mr Soros is a regular target of Fidesz, which accuses him of encouraging illegal migration to Europe. Mr Soros funds civil society groups that help migrants or defend human rights. Critics see the attacks on Mr Soros - a Jewish survivor of the Nazi Holocaust in Hungary - as anti-Semitic.

For many right-wing, anti-immigration parties, Mr Orban is a hero for regularly castigating Brussels for its approach to migration, especially Muslim migration.

"We can be only be part of a parliamentary group that is clearly opposed to immigration and stands completely obligated to the defence of Christianity," Mr Orban said after the vote.

Is it just about posters?

No. Mr Orban has also dismissed his critics in the EPP as "useful idiots" - a phrase generally attributed to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, who was referring in the 1920s to naive Western admirers of his brand of socialism.

However, Mr Orban did appear to want to end the row last week when Manfred Weber visited Budapest in search of an apology.

The offending posters along Mr Weber's route were hastily papered over and Mr Orban sent apologetic letters to the 13 parties that had called for Fidesz to be kicked out.

But the wording of the apology was seen as grudging and the anti-EU ad campaign was still visible on Hungarian news websites after Mr Weber had left Budapest.

Mr Orban has also attacked the liberal consensus underpinning EU institutions, advocating instead a vigorous new Central European powerbase.

The European Parliament has launched a legal procedure against his government which could result in sanctions. EU partners accuse Fidesz of undermining democracy and the rule of law.

Why has Orban taken this on the chin?

By Nick Thorpe, Central Europe correspondent

To the dismay of radicals in his own party, and of a group of vociferous journalists in media close to Fidesz, Viktor Orban fought to keep his party in the EPP - for now.

This is a cold political calculation. The loss of its voting rights inside the EPP, and of the right to nominate candidates for EPP posts, was a small price to pay for continued membership.

It is also a decision taken with an eye on Fidesz supporters, who are largely pro-EU.

Many Fidesz voters fear that falling out of one European institution - the EPP - would be the first stumble on a slope which would lead to Hungary falling out of the European Union altogether.

Fidesz constantly follows public opinion with private surveys by its own think-tanks.

The timing of the vote was also very important - ahead of the May European Parliament elections. By staying in the EPP, he can continue to use the party as a platform for his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

If fellow anti-immigrant populists do well in May, he can quit the EPP and join them when he feels like it.

"It will be our decision whether we stay in or leave the EPP," he told the PestiSracok website.</s>It’s crunch day for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party. Together they face being expelled from the European People’s Party (EPP) – the centre-right political group which is the largest in the European Parliament.

Orbán will attend a meeting of EPP officials from across Europe on Wednesday, which could bring the denouement of a long dispute between Hungary's populist, anti-immigration leader and the more mainstream, pro-EU parties.

It follows months of tension between Orbán and some of his EPP colleagues. His anti-EU rhetoric has recently targeted senior EPP members. His opponents have long accused him of stoking hatred with anti-immigration campaigns, interfering with judicial independence and clamping down on the media.

Things came to a head when Orbán’s government launched a poster campaign, accusing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker of promoting migration policies that fundamentally threaten Hungary’s security.

The posters depicted Juncker as a puppet manipulated by philanthropist George Soros into backing uncontrolled immigration. There has also been consternation at the plight of the Soros-founded Central European University, which claimed it was being forced out of Budapest because of the Orbán government's hostile stance.

Thirteen EPP member parties called for a vote on Fidesz's continuing membership, in the wake of the poster campaign.

Last week, during a visit to Budapest by the EPP leader Manfred Weber, some of the anti-EU billboards were covered up – but only those that he was likely to see.

Juncker dismissed the poster campaign as lies. “The conservatives in Hungary in no way whatsoever represent Christian democratic values. I’m of the opinion that there’s no place (for them) in the European People’s Party,” he said in Stuttgart in January.

With a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s parliament, Orbán has made sweeping constitutional changes at home. He has restructured the judiciary, and clamped down on the media.

A Hungarian government spokesman argues that Orbán is sticking to his core values. “Fidesz and the Christian Democratic Party alliance is a Christian democratic philosophy-based party, and we believe the EPP should remain on these very solid foundations,” Zoltán Kovács said.

But last year at the EPP congress, concerns were raised over Orbán’s record on the rule of law and democratic freedoms.

“If you are against the rule of law and an independent judiciary, you are not a Christian democrat,” European Council President Donald Tusk told the assembly. “If you don’t like the free press and the NGOs, if you tolerate xenophobia, homophobia, nationalism and anti-Semitism, you are not a Christian democrat.”

The stakes are high for both sides. For Orbán, being in a group with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats gives him access to the continent’s power brokers. For the EPP, losing Fidesz’s legislators – currently there are 12 – could cost them the status of being the biggest party in the European Parliament, and risk pushing Fidesz into forming a new Eurosceptic grouping.

Last week, Orbán sent a letter of apology to Belgian centre-right leader Wouter Beke for calling him and other EPP critics "useful idiots". The Hungarian prime minister said he was quoting Lenin and meant to criticise policy and not individual politicians.

Hungary's pro-government press have called for Fidesz to quit the EPP rather than endure "humiliating" negotiations. Orbán has talked of shifting the EPP to the right – but if that fails, he has suggested Fidesz could form an alliance with Poland's Law and Justice (PiS).

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have gone to great lengths to to preserve relations with Fidesz. But there are signs that patience is running thin.

Andreas Nick, the CDU's coordinator on relations with Hungary in Germany's parliament, has described how he "showed the door" to a Fidesz official after the Hungarian asked the German whether he "also got money from George Soros".

"All the signals that are coming from Budapest suggest they are targeting a break," Nick said. "It looks as if they are really begging to be kicked out."

However, it is also possible that the 260 EPP delegates could decide to suspend, rather than expel, Fidesz.

It presents a serious challenge for Manfred Weber – a Merkel ally who will lead the conservative bloc in the European elections and is seen as a possible successor to Juncker as European Commission chief. His attempts to keep Fidesz onside have been criticised by political opponents such as the Greens.

The outcome of Wednesday’s decision may hinge on whether senior EPP members think they can persuade Orbán to moderate his hostile stance towards the European mainstream.</s>The European People's People party voted on Wednesday to suspend membership for Hungary's ruling Fidesz party.

Delegates of the main center-right alliance in the European Parliament are opposed to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's authoritarian style and anti-European Union, anti-migration policies.

Campaign posters for the upcoming European elections taking aim at Jean-Claude Juncker and George Soros were a particular point of contention.

Orban's office earlier said that if his party's membership was suspended then Fidesz will completely leave the group.

Read more: EU conservative bloc lays out ultimatum for Hungary's Viktor Orban

Ahead of the vote, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told German radio that the EPP should expel Fidesz.

Fidesz has been distancing itself for years "from Christian democratic values," he said. Juncker was elected to the Commission presidency in 2014 as the EPP's lead candidate.

The head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, took a softer line, telling Reuters news agency that the EPP could temporarily "freeze" Fidesz's membership.

"As long as Fidesz does not fully restore trust there cannot be normal full membership," she said.

Orban angered many EPP lawmakers after Fidesz started an anti-Juncker poster campaign across Hungary in February.

The posters show Juncker and George Soros, a Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire, laughing above a caption accusing them of masterminding uncontrolled immigration into Hungary.

The posters — which have since been replaced by similar placards that criticize European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans — prompted 13 of the 51 EPP member parties to request Fidesz's expulsion.

Tensions between the EPP and Orban had been brewing for years before the poster incident. Since 2010, Orban has tried to secure Fidesz's grip on power by changing the constitution and restricting independent media outlets, charities and universities.

Every day, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. Sign up for the newsletter here.</s>Viktor Orban's Right-wing Fidesz party was on Wednesday suspended from the European People’s Party group amid fears Hungary’s strongman leader was trampling on the rule of law and indulging in gratuitous Brussels-bashing.

Mr Orban, renowned for his anti-EU and anti-migration posturing, was present for the day long discussions over disciplinary measures, which could have included expulsion of Fidesz’ 12 MEPs from the group.

The centre-right EPP is the largest group in the European Parliament and counts Angela Merkel, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk among its members.

The Hungarian prime minister told the EPP delegates that his party could not accept that suspension, raising the prospect of his MEPs joining a different, more nationalist and anti-Brussels alliance of MEPs after May’s European Parliament elections.

Mr Orban's chief of staff signalled that Fidesz would quit the EPP rather than see its membership suspended, saying it was a question of national "dignity".

Mr Orban has drawn criticism for running a poster campaign targeting Mr Juncker, the president of the European Commission, and Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros, which was widely condemned as anti-Semitic.</s>Once his political protégé, Viktor Orbán has become Joseph Daul's biggest headache.

The powerful veteran conservative politician and president of the center-right European People's Party has long protected the Hungarian prime minister from facing sanctions over rule-of-law concerns.

"In every family there is an enfant terrible," Daul said of Orbán last fall, adding that he prefers “to keep my enfant terrible inside the family.”

But Daul's close relationship with Orbán has soured markedly in recent months. On Wednesday, Daul will preside over a meeting of party delegates, who are expected to vote either to suspend Orbán and his Fidesz party and impose three conditions for their continued membership, or to expel him from the EPP just weeks before the European Parliament election.

After long shielding Orbán from potentially punitive disciplinary action, Daul has come to view him as such a liability that Daul himself recently threatened to resign if EPP delegates did not get a chance to vote on Orbán's fate, three EPP politicians confirmed to POLITICO.

Daul's dismay — and that of many other EPP leaders — boiled over after Orbán launched a public campaign against European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, one of the EPP's most prominent members.

"I strongly condemn the campaign launched by the #Hungarian government in the run up to the #EP2019 elections and the defamation of @EU_Commission President, @JunckerEU," Daul tweeted last month.

"The claims made in the campaign are deceitful, misleading and are not based on facts," he wrote, adding that "instead of casting Brussels as a ghost enemy, Hungary must realize it is a part of it."

While many EPP politicians were willing to look the other way as Orbán railed against Brussels at home over the past years, doing so during a European election campaign — and against Juncker, a leading face of the leadership of his own party — finally appeared to cross a red line.

“Daul was always clear with Viktor, and wanted to keep the Hungarians on board,” said one EPP official. “But after that anti-Juncker campaign, he felt personally betrayed, and he’s very tough now.”

"Daul changed," another senior EPP official said. "Daul was very supportive or a friend with Viktor for many years in difficult times. You remember, he called him enfant terrible. But for whatever reasons in the last year, Daul has become not so positive."

The EPP's political assembly will meet in Brussels Wednesday, with up to 261 delegates attending from the EPP's various member parties.

Party leaders aim to first meet with Orbán on Wednesday and propose a deal that would allow Fidesz to remain a part of the EPP — long the EU's dominant political family — but with its membership suspended, and the imposition of three conditions set by Manfred Weber, the German MEP who is the EPP candidate to be the next European Commission president.

Weber has said that Orbán must end the campaign against Juncker, apologize and also find a way for the George Soros-founded Central European University to continue to issue U.S.-accredited degrees in Hungary. The university, based in Budapest, said in December that it must move the bulk of its programs to Vienna because of policies imposed by Orbán's government.

Even if Orbán accepts the deal, EPP officials say anger against him may be so intense that party delegates reject it. But if Orbán resists the deal, or adopts a combative posture, the assembly will vote on expelling Fidesz, which currently holds 12 seats in the European Parliament.

That would be a remarkable step for a political family that is projected to lose dozens of seats in the May election, while Fidesz, by contrast, could even gain a seat.

The senior EPP official said one message of Wednesday's meeting would be that member parties ultimately determine EPP policies.

"The EPP takes decisions democratically, not like others," the official said. "So it’s our member parties who will decide if the agreement is good enough or not and if Viktor Orbán has to continue in the EPP or not."

Daul's willingness to resign to make sure the vote went ahead highlights just how agonizing and divisive the debate over Orbán and Fidesz has become.

“The president always follows the rules to the letter written in our statutes and internal regulations," an EPP official said. "These are 13 parties demanding the suspension and/or expulsion of Fidesz and the president thinks it’s his duty to bring this in front of the political assembly for a democratic decision."

The 13 parties, which include Finland's Kokoomus, Sweden's Moderate Party, Greece's New Democracy, the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V), the Walloon Humanist Democratic Center (cdH) and Luxembourg's Christian Social People's Party (CSV), asked Daul to either expel or suspend Fidesz from the center-right bloc.

Their formal requests were a reaction to Orbán's public campaign against Juncker, but they also cited long-standing concerns about the state of the rule of law in Hungary — concerns that led the European Parliament to vote in favor of initiating disciplinary measures against Hungary under Article 7 of the EU treaty.

Daul, meanwhile, is confronting a conservative family that is extremely divided on the Fidesz issue, with defenders and critics of Orbán whose votes are unlikely to be swayed by debate.

The most influential delegation, Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has yet to formally decide how it will vote. And while a large number of delegates from northern countries are likely to vote in favor of expulsion, others like France's Les Républicains and Italy's Forza Italia do not seem inclined to punish Fidesz.</s>On February 22, two Swedish conservative parties wrote a letter to Joseph Daul, the President of the European People’s Party (EPP) to ask for the expulsion of Fidesz, one of Hungary's governing parties, headed by Viktor Orbán.

After the move by the Swedes, 11 more European parties followed up with the same request.

The last straw for most of them was the Hungarian government’s anti-Brussels campaign, claiming that the EU has a secret plan to support immigration. On the posters spreading their message they put the image of George Soros.

The Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist had been attacked in several campaigns already, accused of having a plan to flood Europe with migrants. The new element was the other man on the photo: Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission – and a member of the EPP.

The question of whether to exclude, or suspend, the membership of Fidesz (or not doing anything) is on the agenda for EPP’s meeting in Brussels this Wednesday. But isn’t the damage already done, whichever way they decide?

It will be a hard task to keep the party family together. Already one member has vowed to leave if Fidesz is expelled. On the other hand, at least one party is set to leave the EPP if Fidesz stays. On each side there could be others lining up to join them.

There is another option: to suspend Fidesz. This may seem a good solution to keep both sides in the EPP, but it would not last for long.

It seems likely that this internal conflict will weaken the EPP, and might even lead to the birth of a new faction in the next European Parliament. A more divided EPP may confirm what the polls are suggesting already: a more divided parliament, with EU-sceptic parties set to gain more seats.

This means that whatever they decide, the EPP is divided and the European Parliament will be divided too. That explains why the EPP is afraid of a Fidesz outside the party family, and some members believe the Hungarian party can be controlled inside rather than outside the fold.

The risk for the EPP if it expels Fidesz is that under its top candidate Manfred Weber, it might win only a narrow majority, or lose it altogether. That would mean the party's candidate for European Commission president would need the backing of other factions like the Socialists and Democrats, the Greens, or the liberal ALDE group. All three are committed to opposing Fidesz.

Slight changes to immigration policy are possible, as the European People's Party is quite divided on the subject.

Viktor Orbán claimed that immigration was the reason for the rupture in Hungarian-German political relations. Fidesz is in conflict on this with the two German parties who form a major power in the EPP: the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Manfred Weber – EPP leader in the European Parliament – has set three conditions for Fidesz to fulfil if it wants to stay in the EPP. One party which agrees with these conditions is the Austrian People's Party (OVP), governing in coalition with the extreme right and hardline anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO).

Anti-Juncker campaign was 'last straw'

Most parties in the EPP group described the latest Hungarian government campaign as the last straw, as it targeted the European Commission president. They also say that Fidesz is breaching the rule of law, and does not respect the fundamental values of the EPP and the European Union.

Most of these arguments were already said during the debate in the European Parliament last September on the Sargentini report, which accused Orbán's government of posing a "systematic threat" to the EU's fundamental principles.

The report was backed by two thirds of MEPs, triggering the little-used Article 7 procedure against Hungary. From the EPP 115 MEPs backed the report, and 57 voted against it (including the group's 12 Hungarians). 28 MEPs chose to abstain.

It was the first time that the MEPs had decided to use the process to suspend certain rights from a member state.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON THE LATEST NEWS</s>BRUSSELS, March 20 (Reuters) - The center-right's lead candidate for the European Parliament elections called on Wednesday for Hungary's Fidesz party to lose its voting rights in the grouping pending an inquiry into whether it has violated rule-of-law principles.

According to participants at a Brussels meeting to decide on the fate of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling party, Manfred Weber said the outcome of the evaluation would have "enormous political bearing."

Orban, a feisty nationalist who has often clashed with the European Union over his anti-immigration campaigns and judicial reforms, told European People's Party (EPP) delegates that his party could not accept the proposal.

According to a document seen by Reuters, the evalution would be made by a committee chaired by former European Council head Herman Van Rompuy, with former European Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering and former Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel also serving.

"As a political family we must not only have principles and speak about values, but we must also lead by example," the document said.

The head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and 13 sister parties in the EPP have called for Fidesz's expulsion, but Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, head of Germany's Christian Democrats, proposed a compromise ahead of the meeting.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, frontrunner eventually to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, attended Wednesday's meeting in person to confirm to delegates that her party, the largest in the EPP, would back suspending Fidesz and setting up the committee.

Earlier, Orban's chief of staff said Fidesz would quit the EPP rather than see its membership suspended, saying it was a question of national "dignity."

Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Bavaria's premier Markus Soeder, both EPP members who have been among Orban's closest allies in the grouping, supported her position, sources close to Kramp-Karrenbauer said.

The decision of both Orban and Kramp-Karrenbauer to attend in person what would normally be a routine administrative meeting highlighted how high the stakes are: EPP membership for Fidesz confers mainstream respectability and influence that other populist parties lack.

The Fidesz issue poses a particularly difficult challenge for Weber. His chances of succeeding Juncker as head of the executive Commission will be reduced without the votes of Fidesz's European lawmakers, of whom there are currently 12.

On Wednesday Juncker, who is also from the EPP, repeated his call for Fidesz to be kicked out of the grouping.

"I think that Mr Orban is a long way from basic Christian Democratic values," he told German radio.

Juncker was the target of a Hungarian government poster campaign depicting him as a proponent of mass immigration into Europe and as a puppet manipulated by Hungarian-American billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

The EPP grouping, the largest in the European Parliament, is also concerned over Orban's campaign against the private Central European University in Budapest that Soros founded.

Sources close to Weber said Orban had at least partially met the German conservative's conditions for keeping Fidesz in the EPP, including by apologizing to colleagues in the grouping for labeling them immigration-backing "useful idiots." (Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers and Andreas Rinke in Berlin, writing by Thomas Escritt Editing by Gareth Jones)</s>The eurosceptic and anti-immigration Hungarian leader has been accused of regularly breaching the rules of the European Union and targeting senior EPP members with his provocative speeches and anti-EU billboards. And today the 260 members of the EPP, a grouping including representatives from Angela Merkel’s CDU, Spain’s People’s Party and France’s The Republicans, will vote on whether to expel or suspend Fidesz's membership. Mr Orban will be given the right to defend himself in person at today’s meeting, according to Hungarian media.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, also known as AKK, who became Germany’s CDU leader in late 2018, advocated a membership “freeze” for Mr Orban’s party, to last until trust between Budapest and Brussels was rebuilt. She said: "As long as Fidesz does not fully restore trust there cannot be normal full membership.” Conservative European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker took a harsher position and advised the coalition to expel Fidesz. READ MORE: EU split: EU bosses attack Orban's claims of plot to draw immigrants to Europe

He had already argued earlier this year the party doesn’t “represent Christian democratic values”. He said: “The conservatives in Hungary in no way whatsoever represent Christian democratic values. “I’m of the opinion that there’s no place for them in the European People’s Party.” Mr Orban has been accused of not sticking to the European immigration policy by refusing to take in the set quota of migrants, stoking hatred with anti-immigration campaigns and clamping down on the media.

Brussels and Budapest came to a head in December last year, when the government slashed judicial independence by creating a parallel court system which cements executive control over the judiciary one - despite the EU warned against it. But the relationship between Fidesz and the EPP crumbled when Mr Orban’s government launched a poster campaign accusing Mr Juncker of promoting mass immigration threatening Hungary’s security. The billboards, some of which have been covered up following the outrage they sparked, depicted Mr Juncker as a puppet manipulated by billionaire US philanthropist George Soros into backing uncontrolled immigration. The posters were met with anger by EPP leader and Mrs Merkel’s protégé tipped to be the next Commission president, Manfred Weber.</s>Hungaryʼs governing populist party Fidesz has been suspended by the center-right European Peopleʼs Party (EPP), the biggest political grouping in the European Parliament, after a vote triggered by what many member parties see as Fideszʼs defiance of EU policies and EPP values, according to breaking reports Wednesday evening.

In an almost unanimous vote, the EPP agreed to withdraw Fideszʼs voting rights, according to a report by the BBC, which noted that the decision - although short of complete expulsion - comes as a blow for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the eve of an EU summit.

At the same time, many observers note that the Fidesz suspension is also potentially bad news for the center-right bloc, which faces European Parliament elections at the end of May, and will lose a dozen MEPs of Fidesz if the latter decides - as party officials had threatened prior to the vote - to eventually exit the EPP.

“Fidesz will be suspended with immediate effect and until further notice,” EPP President Joseph Daul announced on Twitter, saying that 190 members had voted in favor and only three against.

The final straw for many center-right parties in Europe, the BBC recalled, was the recent poster campaign that implied a conspiracy to flood Europe with migrants, featuring posters with a photo of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (whose party is also an EPP member) alongside billionaire Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist George Soros, long the target of Hungarian government propaganda.

With respect to the posters, U.K. daily newspaper The Guardian cited an internal EPP document as saying: “Fidesz must understand that this campaign has caused considerable political damage. The EPP expects Fidesz to fully recognise this and refrain from these attacks in the future.”

Orbán also angered many within the EPP by describing the 13 parties who had called for the vote as “useful idiots” for the left, a comment for which he subsequently apologized - though this now appears to have had little effect on the outcome of the EPP vote.

A week ago, EPP parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber met with Orbán in Budapest, indicating afterwards that much remained to be done to avoid the expulsion or suspension of Fidesz from the grouping as disputed issues remained unresolved.

Weber had issued a three-point ultimatum to Orbán ahead of their talks, requiring the Hungarian government to publicly apologize for its latest anti-Juncker campaign ads, to halt its anti-Brussels campaigns altogether, and to ensure the continued operation of the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. He stressed that basic rights, such as the freedom of academia and education, are “not subject to bargaining,” and that Orbán must observe such rights or find himself and his party outside the EPP.

The Hungarian government reacted defiantly, claiming that the move to suspend Fidesz had been a “joint decision,” with Orbán attempting to spin the vote by saying that he had agreed “voluntarily” to pause Fidesz’s participation in the EPP in order to prevent a forced suspension, as news agency Reuters reported.

“What happened today was that we took a joint decision, we ourselves also voted for it,” tweeted Zoltán Kovács, the Fidesz governmentʼs international spokesman. “The EPP remains a broad party where there is place for liberals and for Christian Democrats,” he insisted despite the vote.

The BBC noted that the immediate penalties for Hungaryʼs leader are clear, as he will not be allowed to take part in a meeting on Thursday with other EPP leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ahead of the summit.

“Practically it means that Fidesz cannot any more present candidates for posts in the party, they cannot vote any more for any kind of EPP assembly, and they are even not any more allowed to participate in any meeting,” Weber was cited as saying.

As reported earlier in the day prior to the vote, Fidesz will now be assessed by a committee of three “wise men,” headed by former European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, who will decide whether it is in breach of the blocʼs values. The length of the suspension is unclear, but it will last beyond the European elections, noted the BBC report.

For his part, Orbán reiterated his governmentʼs firm stance on immigration and other issues on which Hungary is “unwilling to compromise,” as Gergely Gulyás, the Hungarian cabinet minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, put it last week.

“We can only be part of a parliamentary group that is clearly opposed to immigration and stands completely obligated to the defense of Christianity,” Orbán said after the vote.

Orbán revealed to reporters after the announcement that Fidesz has assembled its own committee of wise heads, who he said will negotiate with the EPPʼs three “wise men,” Hungarian news portal Index.hu reported. He added that the EPP and Fidesz will be able “to decide freely on our relationship” following the European parliamentary elections, and stressed that it remains “an open question” whether Fidesz MEPs will later take up their seats within the EPP group.</s>Hungary’s ruling right-wing party Fidesz has been suspended from the center-right 'European People’s Party' bloc (EPP), as growing confrontation between Viktor Orban and EU leadership comes to a head in the European Parliament.

After serious debate over Fidesz’ fate in the transnational EU bloc, the EPP has voted to suspend the party rather than kicking them out altogether as some had called for.

Documents earlier leaked on social media revealed that the EPP drafted a plan of action aimed at forcing Fidesz’s compliance. The proposal included a list of “conditions” the organization expects the Hungarians to fulfill, including halting their “fake news” campaign against Jean-Claude Juncker and permanently abandoning such “attacks” in the future. It said that while Fidesz works to implement the demands, their membership will be suspended, barring them from voting or holding positions in the EPP.

Fidesz angered the EPP in February with an election campaign that depicted European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU bureaucracy as instruments of billionaire George Soros, serving his pro-immigration policies.

Soros is a vilified figure in his home country now, standing accused of meddling with its domestic affairs. The Central European University, a Soros-based organization, was forced to move out of Budapest due to the pressure last year.

EU officials and members of the EPP decried the Fidesz campaign, accusing the party of scaremongering and peddling conspiracy theories. Some conservative parties demanded apologies from Orban, saying his party would not have a place among EPP members without one.

The Hungarian leader stood his ground and implied that an expected electoral success of anti-immigration parties during the upcoming European Parliament election would make the bloc more accepting of Fidesz’s stance. He did however apologize for branding fellow EPP members “useful idiots” supporting their leftwing and liberal opponents ahead of the election by fueling the row with Hungary.

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The European People's Party votes to suspend Hungary's ruling Fidesz party citing its anti-immigration stance, and personal attacks on Jean-Claude Juncker and George Soros. Hungarian Prime Minister and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán had threatened to pull out of the EPP if it was suspended.