German conservative leader proposes EPP suspends Hungary’s Fidesz party

The membership of Hungary’s Fidesz party in the European People’s Party (EPP) group could be suspended until trust is rebuilt, German conservative leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has said. “As long as Fidesz does not fully restore trust, there cannot be normal full membership,” Kramp-Karrenbauer, a confidante of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told Reuters on Wednesday. A membership “freeze” would be an option, according to the leader of Germany’s CDU party. Conservative European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker told German radio that he advised the center-right EPP bloc to kick out the Fidesz party, which is led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.