European Parliament's largest group accuses right-wing Patriots alliance of undermining bloc

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - The conservative European People's Party (EPP), the largest group in the European Parliament (EP), accused the new right-wing Patriots for Europe alliance, which Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban launched last week, of undermining the European bloc.

“Whoever is elected to this parliament by European citizens has the right to work like everyone else and this must be guaranteed,” EPP’s leader Manfred Weber told journalists, according to Italy’s state-run ANSA news agency.

“However, those who are against the European project, such as Viktor Orban, who said he wants to dismantle the European Parliament, as well cannot represent this institution,” he added.

According to the media outlet, the EPP, Socialist and Democratic Alliance and Liberals (Renew), the Greens, Conservatives and Reformists, and the Left are negotiating the distribution of EP committees.

The EPP is targeting the Foreign Affairs Committee, Constitutional Affairs Committee, and Agriculture Committee, while Environment, Trade, Regional Affairs and Economic and Monetary Affairs committees could be among those assigned to the Socialists, the news agency claimed.