The European Greens' leading candidates Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout have expressed their deep concern about the participation of representatives of Ursula von der Leyen's European People's Party (EPP) at a far-right conference organised by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary.
At least 4 speakers from the European People's Party (EPP), 7 from the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), including its vice-president, and 4 from the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) are scheduled to speak at this event.
They share the stage with Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Brazil's former autocratic president Jair Bolsonaro, a former communications director for Donald Trump, and Spain's far-right Vox leader Santiago Abascal, under investigation after making threatening remarks about Spain's prime minister Sánchez.
The far-right event takes place against the backdrop of 2 preliminary investigations initiated yesterday by the Dresden Public Prosecutor's Office against Maximilian Krah about possible payments from Russia and China. Krah is the lead candidate of Alternative für Deutschland (also part of the far-right ID).
Terry Reintke said, "A pattern emerges where politicians who undermine the democracies all over the world, meet and work together, against a backdrop of Russian and Chinese influence. If anyone still doubted how intertwined members of the ECR and ID parties are with autocrats, fascists and conspiracy theorists, they only have to look at the list of speakers at this conference to see that they are colluding”.
Bas Eickhout added: "Today, Italy celebrates the anniversary of the liberation from Nazi occupation and Fascism. Portugal celebrates the end of the dictatorship 50 years ago. We promise the citizens who will vote in the European elections in six weeks' time that the Greens have the courage to stand up against the far right. We will fight for democracy and the rule of law throughout Europe”.
The EPP representatives identified on the list of speakers of the CPAC conference are:
- Hunor Kelemen, President of Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), member of the European People's Party (EPP)
- Janez Jansa, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, and leader of Slovenska demokratska stranka (SDS), member of the EPP
- Kriztian Forro, Chairman of the party SZÖVETSÉG – Alliance, member of the EPP
- Bálint Pásztor, Leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, member of the EPP
