Tamás Deutsch, an MEP of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz, said the “extremist behavior” exhibited by Katarina Barley, the Socialist vice-president of the European Parliament, is “poisoning European cooperation and undermining the authority of the European Parliament”.
In a letter to EP President Roberta Metsola, Tamás Deutsch, the head of Fidesz’s EP delegation, insisted that Barley’s latest “communication rampage” against Hungary “must not be allowed to go unchallenged”. In his letter, the MEP protested Barley’s remarks about Hungary and the Hungarian prime minister in recent interviews which he saw as “disparaging and disingenuous”, going “far beyond the bounds of civilised political debate and the behaviour expected of a vice-president of the European Parliament”. Deutsch noted that there had been a precedent for the EP removing a vice-president from office for “making an unacceptable statement”. “In my view, Katarina Barley has crossed the line with her behavior, making her unworthy of being vice-president. I expect Madam President to take the necessary measures to preserve the dignity of the House,” Deutsch wrote.