EU’s Tusk Damns Populists in Veiled Reference to Hungary’s Orban

(Bloomberg) -- Outgoing European Council President Donald Tusk slammed “populists, manipulators and autocrats” in a veiled attack on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, calling on mainstream leaders to take the fight to nationalist politicians.

As he made his bid Wednesday to be named head of the pan-European group of center-right parties, Tusk criticized those who use fear and hatred to win votes. The group, known as the European People’s Party, suspended Orban’s Fidesz in March, citing Orban’s erosion of democratic standards, opposition to immigration and criticism of EU institutions and personalities.

“I deeply believe that only those who want and are able to give people a feeling of safety and security, preserving at the same time their freedoms and rights, have a mandate to run for power,” Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, told EPP delegates at the group’s congress in Zagreb. “Under no circumstances can we give away the sphere of security and order to political populists, manipulators, and autocrats, who believe that freedom cannot be reconciled with security.”

The EPP is preparing a report on the further status of Fidesz in the group, Croatian Premier Andrej Plenkovic told reporters at the congress earlier.

In June, Orban rejected the criticism, saying in a letter to the EPP that Hungarian legislation fully complies with EU laws. He reiterated his belief that his nation’s culture is based on Christianity and family values.

Fidesz’s membership of the EPP became increasingly strained as populist parties took power in Italy. At the same time, ruling groups in Hungary, Poland and Romania took steps toward greater political control over state institutions, sparking fears of a return to authoritarian rule 30 years after the collapse of communism.

Tusk also spoke about the EU’s efforts to mitigate the recent migrant crisis, praising German Chancellor Angela Merkel “for the great role” she played but again appearing to criticize Orban as “someone, who also worked hard, but only on his narrative and self-creation, putting up a fence and billboards with anti-migration propaganda.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Ian Wishart in Zagreb at iwishart@bloomberg.net;Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey

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