Since getting back to political power in 2010, Viktor Orbán has transformed Hungary into an illiberal democracy, in which the independence of the judiciary and media have been seriously undermined and critical voices, from NGOs to universities, threatened with closure. Since 2015 Orbán has taken his illiberal agenda abroad, becoming the most prominent radical right voice in Europe denouncing multiculturalism and demonizing refugees, and calling for "Hungary for the Hungarians, Europe for the Europeans."

All of this is happening while Hungary is a member state of the European Union, a "community of values" that is meant to strengthen, rather than weaken, liberal democracy in Europe. The main reason Orbán has been able to get away with his illiberal program is his protection by the European People's Party (EPP), the EU's most powerful political group. It is time for the EPP to return to its original values and defend liberal democracy within the EU and Europe. As a first step, it should expel Orbán and his Fidesz party.

This petition calls upon the EPP to kick Fidesz out of the EPP. It is directed at the EPP, the EPP group in the European Parliament, and all the national member parties of the two organizations. Stand up for your core values and stop giving crucial coverage to Orbán's illiberal democratic project in Hungary and the EU!