Olivér Várhelyi

Current Commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, it is doubtful if he’ll get through EP hearings, due to lots of controversies while Commissioner, e.g. calling MEPs idiots, regarding Israel/Palestine, Serbia, and Georgia (more on Euronews). (“His appointment depends on a confirmation hearing at the European Parliament, where he has been the target of unrelenting criticism for breaking ranks with the Commission's official line and pursuing an agenda aligned with Orbán's government. With slim chances of a successful confirmation, the nomination is set to fuel speculation that Orbán is keeping his real pick as Plan B, once Várhelyi's bid is scrapped by MEPs.” - Euronews)

Party positions/ National government record

Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party once belonged to the EPP, but now “sits with the far-right Patriots for Europe, around which centrist parties have built a cordon sanitaire” (Euronews). Orban has been in power in Hungary for 14 years, with an increasingly far-right government: his party Fidesz has gradually taken control of Hungary's media landscape; the European Parliament has accused Hungary of backsliding on the rule of law, corruption and LGBT rights; Orban makes link between immigration and terrorism, introduced new laws criminalising migrants, and said "We would like to keep Europe for Europeans...to preserve Hungary for Hungarians"; EU funding to Hungary has been suspended for breaking EU laws; Orban is closer to Putin than any other European leader and thinks “Kyiv can never win the war” (BBC)