Hungary’s commissioner nominee Olivér Várhelyi failed, Fidesz suspects leftist pact behind

At his hearing in front of the expert committees of the European Parliament, Olivér Várhelyi said that if his candidacy for Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare was supported, he wanted to work towards improving citizens’ health by further building the European Health-care Union, “because cross-border crises like the coronavirus pandemic require joint solutions.”

Olivér Várhelyi failed his first hearing, had to answer in writing

Várhelyi, who has been EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement for the past five years, told the hearing that innovation in health care was a step towards a “strong, competitive and healthy Europe”. He said prevention through a “comprehensive approach and investment” would be a priority. He would also work to keep clinical research in Europe and strengthen it, especially in the diseases causing the most deaths in the bloc such as cancer and heart and circulatory diseases. By keeping research in Europe and by improving access to medical equipment, the EU’s autonomy would grow and its health-care industry would remain competitive, he said.

“I would like to ensure that treatments and medicine will always be at European citizens’ disposal whenever and wherever they need it.” Meanwhile, Várhelyi said he would also keep the EU’s food safety and animal health regulations the strictest in Europe, which is also a way to maintain farmers’ competitiveness.

According to Politico, “lawmakers refused to approve Várhelyi after his oral hearing on Wednesday — the only Commissioner so far not to be greenlit at this stage.” He received a lot of questions her had to answer in writing. HERE you can read them with the replies.

He has until 12 November to convince the committees of the European Parliament.

Patriots for Europe support Várhelyi

The MEP delegation of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats (KDNP) and their party family, the Patriots for Europe, are standing behind Hungarian commissioner candidate Olivér Várhelyi, Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch said on Facebook on Wednesday, ahead of Várhelyi’s hearing in the European Parliament.

Várhelyi proved his experience, professional knowledge and preparedness in his career so far, he said.

At the same time, “there is no doubt that professional knowledge will mean nothing to the EP’s leftist majority,” he said. “Even though the hearing is supposed to assess professional knowledge, we can expect the well-known ideological and political attacks.” Deutsch said there had been reports that “the Tisza delegation, the European People’s Party and its leader, Manfred Weber …

have made a pact with the other leftist groups to mandate a second hearing for Várhelyi, no matter what.”

Fidesz MEP blasts ‘EPP-left pact’ against Hungarian commissioner candidate

Csaba Dömötör, an MEP of ruling Fidesz, on Thursday criticised what he called “a pact between the European People’s Party and the left-wing EP groups” under which they were requiring Hungarian commissioner-designate Oliver Varhelyi to answer further questions rather than immediately confirming his nomination.

“It is a serious circumstance and characteristic of their democratic attitude that the decision on this was made before Oliver Varhelyi’s confirmation hearing,” Dömötör said on Facebook. “By doing this they have made the confirmation hearings a part of the regular political pressure campaigns.”

Dömötörsaid Várhelyi’s hearing had lasted three hours, and he had already demonstrated his experience and expertise. “It’s too bad the MEPs questioning him didn’t care about any of this,” he added.

“Europe deserves more than this. And so does Hungary. And democracy,” the MEP said.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Fidesz MEP Viktoria Ferenc in Brussels on Thursday, Dömötör said the left-wing majority of the EP had turned Varhelyi’s confirmation hearing into “a political circus”. Varhelyi spoke in detail about his plans to strengthen health care, launch prevention programmes and digital developments, and touched on animal welfare measures, he added. He also pointed out that Varhelyi had experience with how the European Commission operates, as he had filled a commissioner’s position in the past five years.

Dömötör said “this pact is a personal act of revenge” for Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s Party, because Hungary earlier had not supported his candidacy for president of the European Commission.

Nevertheless, he said, he trusted that common sense would prevail in the end. MEP’s, he said, would realise that the new European Commission would have to start work as soon as possible.

Answering a question regarding the European Political Community summit currently being held in Budapest, Dömötör said the event disproved the claim that Hungary was isolated or that it was not possible to maintain balanced and strong relations with the leaders of several key countries at the same time.

“Hungarian diplomacy proves that this is possible,” Dömötör said, adding that the event “will deal with essential issues, rather than a political circus”.

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