Criticizing the European People’s Party, the socialist MEP Pedro Marques admitted this Tuesday in Strasbourg that the Slovakian Robert Fico could be expelled from the European socialist family.
Using as an example the case of the expulsion of Viktor Orbán from the European People’s Party, Pedro Marques guarantees that the process will not be prolonged like the one carried out by the EPP, also guaranteeing that Robert Fico will be “the subject of a process” if he maintains his pro-Russian rhetoric and the anti-European and anti-rule of law discourse that marked the electoral campaign.
Pedro Marques guarantees that, “at the limit”, the Slovak who is about to return to lead a Government in his country, could be expelled from the European political family to which the Socialist Party belongs. A red line would be a coalition with the extreme right. Another is to transform “campaign rhetoric” into political actions, marked by a discourse that distances itself from European policy regarding Ukraine and that questions the rule of law.
“If Robert Fico and his party, now, in the context of the formation of the Government, insist on this path and begin to govern in this way and, above all, from now on, in the coming days, they unite, for example “With the extreme right, the leader of our European party has already made it very clear that this will be sufficient reason to open a sanctions process, which could ultimately lead to expulsion,” said Pedro Marques. TSF.
Pedro Marques claims that, even before the elections, the Socialists and Democrats political group confronted the two SMER deputies, the Slovak Socialists in the European Parliament, Robert Fico’s party, to express their concern about the tone of the bell.
“We leave clear messages of concern with this type of rhetoric,” said Pedro Marques, specifying that it is “rhetoric that distances the idea of support for Ukraine in the context of the Russian war of aggression” and “populist rhetoric.” and, in some areas, falling into some nationalist touches, especially on issues of the rule of law and issues of minority rights, particularly LGBT people.”
After emphasizing that “these warnings were issued clearly,” Pedro Marques affirms that the socialists intend to carry out the process quickly.
“We are not going to wait ten years for Mr. Orbán to leave alone like the EPP did. We have already said – our leader has already said it at the highest level – that if this is applied, we will start a sanctions process that could, in fact, having as one of its consequences the expulsion of the SMER,” he stated.
But the social democrat Paulo Rangel, of the European People’s Party, responds to the criticism by saying that it was the socialist family that “did nothing” in the face of a case that is prolonged and that “is not new.”
“Disinformation in Slovakia, the connection with Russia, but above all the attack on the media and corruption have been there since 2012, when Robert Fico and the SMER were elected for the second time,” highlighted Rangel, accusing “the Socialist Party Portuguese and the European Socialist Party [que] “They never left SMER and Robert Fico.”
“At least five years ago, Ján Kuciak was murdered. Robert Fico had to resign because there were direct and proven links between his government and the administration linked to the corruption scandals that these journalists were investigating and for which he and his partner were murdered” , is another example pointed out by Paulo Rangel regarding the actions attributed to Robert Fico, accusing the socialist family that “five years ago” they did “nothing” either.
“We have never seen a leader of the PS, 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 “Indeed, let it be five, six, seven years, Orbán, we always defend his departure.”
“The PS is still here today saying: ‘Well, let’s see if he leaves or not.’ Therefore, what we ask of the PS leaders in the European Parliament is to do what we did in the PSD, where we spent six years within the EPP fighting for Orbán to leave”.
The socialist delegation in Strasbourg, however, issued a statement responding to the statements of Paulo Rangel, who during the morning, in a speech in plenary, also criticized the S&D and the Portuguese PS for not having separated from the SMER and Robert Fico. after the murder of Ján Kuciak.
The PS delegation states that “MP Paulo Rangel has once again used the European Parliament today to make serious and false accusations against the PS and the European Socialists, in relation to the death of the Slovak journalist.”
The statement says that “the PSD deputy, Paulo Rangel, deliberately ignored the truth, omitting that the S&D, of which the Portuguese socialists are part, issued, right at the time of the events, on March 14, 2018, a statement of condemnation in very clear terms, saying: ‘We must act and ensure that no more atrocities like this occur elsewhere.'”
Source: TSF
