Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál said in Strasbourg on Wednesday that the Patriots for Europe group will not vote for Ursula von der Leyen's new European Commission in light of its "backroom deals and poor decisions" that "set Europe on the path of crisis in the past five years".
"The Patriots' and Fidesz delegation's stance is clear: we and the European majority who voted for us in the European parliamentary elections want European politics to change," Gál said before a plenary debate on the commissioners and the commission's programme.
Gál insisted that Europe was on the path towards "bankruptcy" on issues such as illegal migration, the centralisation of the Brussels administration, "anti-farmer greenwashing", and its "pro-war position".
She added that the new commission, backed by the European People's Party and left-liberals, was incapable of answering to voters who desired change in the way the bloc was run and the policies it pursued.
Gál said the "unacceptable pact" determining the next five years would lead to "further illegal migration, war-mongering, ideologically driven politics, and the blackmailing of member states" by withholding EU funds.
Commenting on commissioner hearings in the EP, she said the outcomes had been decided in advance, regardless of the commissioner-designate's professional preparedness, and she insisted that Hungary's Olivér Várhelyi had amply demonstrated his competence.
The Patriots group and Fidesz "represent change in the EU", she said. "It's clear that our voters everywhere want a voice for change," she said, adding that "peace, an end to illegal migration, border protection, freedom from ideology and sovereignty" were their top priorities.