Comments on: ECRG formed, so will it hold?

By: antaldaniel

antaldaniel — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:44:32 +0000

Oh yes. The Hungarain Democratic Forum is a small Hungarian EPP party that run on a ‘normalcy’ ticket against its more popular and populist EPP rival, Fidesz. There two main candidates were a maverick former finance minister and a Habsburg archduke, a very odd combination for an originally patriotic and republican Hungarian party. (Hungary has fought a war of independence against the Habsburgs). Now that they are bound together with these bunch it is widely believed that they will remove their top candidate and let the Mr Habsburg join the group. Apparently it was Mr Bokros, the top candidate who won the party the only seat. However, he will be badly needed in the forthcoming national elections, too, and it may be very inconvenient for him to sit together with the Kaczynski-party. The official statement of the party is not denial, but that the question is not on the agenda at this point. Here is the story of the Hungarian right-wing candidates: http://central.blogactiv.eu/2009/03/09/ep-elections-in-hungary-the-conservative-epp-candidates/

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:03:30 +0000

Please explain more! An archduke…? And will that happen now, or you think it will happen in future?

By: antaldaniel

antaldaniel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:59:05 +0000

I think as long as the Tories want this group to persist it will be there, for the zealots and witchhunters from Central and Eastern Europe it will be flattering to form a group with one of the oldest parliamentary parties of the world. Politically this is so similar to McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for being his running mate. I wish it cost the Tories votes, but I guess it might even help them. I only hope that the Hungairan Democratic Fourm will be punished by its voters, at is campaigned for years with a very centrist message and ‘normalcy’. But they also look down on this group: they will call back their vote-winning Lajos Bokros and send the Habsburg archduke instead to Strasbourg.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:45:47 +0000

Trooper – you’re right. The new rules stipulate 25 MEPs from 7 countries, up from I think 20 MEPs from 5 countries before. So the Tories can lose 1 of the people and still respect the rules.

I disagree with James – I don’t think this is going to collapse soon.

By: Trooper Thompson

Trooper Thompson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:20:23 +0000

Weren’t the rules changed specifically to make it more difficult to form parties in the EP? If so, the new grouping has been put together to satisfy those new rules.

By: James Burnside

James Burnside — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:17:22 +0000

They need to have group members from 7 member states (for at least one year). As things stand, they have three member parties and then a load of ‘one-man bands’ (not to mention the Finnish member splitting his own party). Surely these singletons will exert proportionately more influence – on jobs, speaking time etc – than they should, as they will always be able to hint at the implicit threat to walk away, leaving the group in the lurch. Of course for that lot, being in a group with the likely next government of a big member state has its value back home, but each will have their price.