Socialist MEP Pedro Marques criticized the European People’s Party in Strasbourg on Tuesday and admitted that Slovak Robert Fico could be expelled from the European socialist family.
Pedro Marques gives the example of the expulsion of Viktor Orbán from the European People’s Party and guarantees that the process will not drag on like that of the PPE. And he guarantees that Robert Fico will be “the target of a lawsuit” if he maintains the pro-Russian rhetoric and anti-European speech against the rule of law that characterized the election campaign.
Pedro Marques guarantees that the Slovak, who is about to return to lead a government in his country, could be expelled “on the border” from the European political family to which the Socialist Party belongs. One red line would be a coalition with the far right, the other would be the conversion of ‘campaign rhetoric’ into political actions, characterized by a discourse that distances itself from European policy towards Ukraine and questions the rule of law.
“If Robert Fico and his party, now in the context of the formation of a government, insist on this path and begin to govern in this way and, above all, immediately join, for example, the extreme right, the leader of our European party will have already made it very clear made that this will be sufficient reason to initiate a sanctions process, which could ultimately lead to deportation,” Pedro Marques told TSF.
Pedro Marques states that even before the elections, the political grouping of Socialists and Democrats confronted the two members of SMER, the Slovak Socialists in the European Parliament, Robert Fico’s party, to express their concerns about the tone of the campaign.
“With that kind of rhetoric we have left clear messages of concern,” Pedro Marques emphasizes, specifying that it is a “rhetoric that takes away the idea of support for Ukraine in the context of Russia’s war of aggression” and a “populist rhetoric. and, in some areas, taking on some nationalist emphases, especially issues of the rule of law and issues of the rights of minorities, especially LGBT people”.
Pedro Marques insists that “these warnings have been clearly issued” and states that the Socialists intend to move the process quickly.
“We are not going to wait ten years for Mr Orbán to go away alone, as the PPE did. We have already said – our leader at the highest level has already said – that if this is implemented, we will begin a sanctions process. in fact, one of the consequences could be expulsion from the SMER,” he stated.
But Social Democrat Paulo Rangel, who is part of the European People’s Party, responded to the criticism, saying it was the Socialist family that “did nothing” in the face of a case that is dragging on and “is not new”.
“Disinformation in Slovakia, the connection with Russia, but especially the attack on the media and corruption have been there since 2012, when Robert Fico and SMER were elected for the second time,” Rangel pointed out, accusing “the Socialist Party, the Portuguese and European Socialist Party which never separated from SMER and Robert Fico”.
“At least five years ago, Ján Kuciak was murdered. Robert Fico had to resign because there were direct, proven ties from his government and administration related to the corruption scandals these journalists investigated and for which he and his partner were murdered,” is another example mentioned by Paulo Rangel regarding the actions attributed to Robert Fico, accusing the socialist family of also “doing nothing” “five years ago”.
“We have never seen a PSD leader, apart from Ana Gomes, who was the only person who had the courage,” he stated, considering that “the PSD has a great advantage over the PS: it is that we, despite the PPE, in fact let it be five, six, seven years, Orbán, we always defend his departure”.
“The PS is still here today and says, well, let’s see if he leaves or not. That is why the PS leaders in the European Parliament are being asked to do what we did in the PSD, what we did within the PSD for six years. EPP fights for Orbán’s departure.”
However, the Socialist delegation in Strasbourg issued a statement disputing the statements of Paulo Rangel, who in the morning during an intervention in the plenary also criticized the S&D and the Portuguese PS for not seceding from the SMER and Robert Fico . after the murder of Ján Kuciak.
The PS delegation states that “Deputy Paulo Rangel today once again used the European Parliament to make serious and false accusations against the PS and European Socialists, regarding the death of the Slovak journalist.”
The statement states that “the PSD deputy, Paulo Rangel, deliberately missed and omitted the truth that at the very time of the events, on March 14, 2018, the S&D, to which the Portuguese Socialists also belong, issued a press release in which they very clear terms, saying: “We must act and ensure that such atrocities do not happen again in other places.”
Source: DN
