On the homepage of today’s Magyar Nemzet the editors gathered all the important headlines concerning the four-person package for the top EU posts that the prime ministers are supposed to grapple with tonight. The headlines come straight from correspondents of MTI, the official Hungarian news agency. If one compares MTI’s news items to foreign sources, in some cases there are glaring discrepancies; in others, MTI’s alleged information simply cannot be found in the international press.
What we know so far is that the leaders of four countries — Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and France, while attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, came up with a proposal which would include appointing a liberal to the Council presidency and giving conservatives the presidency of the European Parliament and foreign affairs chief. Insiders seem to know that Manfred Weber will have to be satisfied with the EP presidency while Frans Timmermans will occupy the top job. We seem to be on firm ground in assuming that Angela Merkel has resigned herself to giving up on Manfred Weber’s nomination but insists on continuing the Spitzenkandidat process. According to Reuters, even Emmanuel Macron admitted that Timmermans is “one of the candidates capable of doing the job,” adding the names of Danish liberal Margrethe Vestager and his true favorite, the French Michel Barnier.
Finally, we know only from Polish sources, which were taken over by the Hungarian news agency, that all V4 countries will vote against Timmermans’ appointment. However, only three of the four expressed their opposition publicly, as reported by Reuters today. They are Andrej Babiš of the Czech Republic, Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland, and Viktor Orbán, who defined his position in a letter to Joseph Daul, chairman of EPP. We haven’t heard from Peter Pellegrini of Slovakia. MTI, again relying on the Polish news agency, reported that Bulgaria, Romania, and Lithuania are inclined to vote with the Visegrád 4, but as far as I can ascertain it was only Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov who declared that he is standing firmly behind Manfred Weber.
The paper’s Brussels correspondent learned that Italy will also veto “Frans Timmermans’ ambitions,” but that piece of information contradicts what Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of Italy, told Reuters about what makes a good commission president: “Someone who is able to listen. Frans is one of those who has to be taken seriously into account when it comes to the appointment of the president of the Commission.”
For good measure, MTI also reported news that has no relevance whatsoever to the selection of the EU Commission president. For instance, they wrote, as was proudly displayed on the front page of Magyar Nemzet, about current EP President Antonio Tajani’s opposition to Frans Timmermans. But the fact is that it is not Tajani who will have to make this decision but the Italian prime minister, who is currently sitting with the others at the summit of the European Council.
After feeding unverified news to the readers all through the evening, a few minutes ago Hungarian readers of Magyar Nemzet finally received information which has some basis, gleaned from a lengthy Politico article. It looks as if the conservatives, led by Bulgarian Prime Minister Borissov, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Viktor Orbán, and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar are indeed in revolt. What we don’t yet know is how large a following they have. Of course, Magyar Nemzet is quite pleased with this turn of events. But it puts Viktor Orbán in a most awkward position. He is currently in the forefront of the fight to name Manfred Weber president of the European Commission. And yet, as we know, earlier he said that although Fidesz had voted for Weber to be head of the EPP parliamentary delegation, he would veto Weber’s nomination for the presidency.
Boyko Borissov announced that “we have our ‘spitzenkandidat,’ we have a leading candidate who won the EU election–Weber….. We firmly stand behind our candidate.” Plenković, who was the loudest and who himself has aspirations for a top EU job, sang the praises of Weber, whom “the socialists and liberals are trying to disqualify … without any credible arguments.” Where does this put Viktor Orbán? Was he one of those socialists and liberals who wanted to strip Weber of his well-earned right to the post? Through his many political machinations Orbán managed to get himself into a ridiculous position.
Finally, I should say a few words about the letter Viktor Orbán sent to Joseph Daul. Ever since March, Viktor Orbán and Fidesz have been trying to convince everybody that Fidesz was not suspended from EPP but that it suspended itself. József Szájer tried his best to explain that Fidesz is still a full-fledged member of the group with all the rights of other members. And now what do we read? “I’m fully aware of the fact that FIDESZ as a member of the EPP is currently suspended. I am also aware that under these circumstances FIDESZ cannot have any influence on the policy of the EPP.” And then, just like Plenković, he proceeds to support Manfred Weber, the object of his earlier wrath. Only about a week ago he triumphantly announced after the first summit that “we have made significant strides in preventing Manfred Weber and Frans Timmermans from becoming the leader of the European Commission.” They will fail because “the Hungarian people didn’t want them.”
Although in his letter to Daul Orbán doesn’t mention Weber by name, from Politico’s article it is pretty clear that his fellow conservatives are behind Weber, the original EPP candidate. His earlier insistence on an outside candidate would mean the abandonment of the Spitzenkandidat system, which I’m not sure would float in the European Council. Whatever the case, I hope that these recalcitrant conservatives will not be able to sidetrack the whole process and defeat a Christian Democratic-socialist-liberal coalition.
