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environment.”

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, echoing Orban’s longtime position that allowed him to win a third consecutive term in April, called the vote “petty revenge” against Hungary for its tough anti-migrant policies.

“This decision condemning Hungary and the Hungarian people was made because we Hungarians have demonstrated that migration is not a necessary process and that migration can be stopped,” Szijjarto said in Budapest.

On Orban’s orders, fences were built in 2015 on Hungary’s southern borders with Serbia and Croatia to divert the flow of migrants, and the country has adopted increasingly restrictive asylum rules.

Orban has framed the migration issue, which he predicts will be the main theme of European elections next year, as one that goes beyond party lines. He met with Italian Interior Minister Mateo Salvini last month in Milan. He referred to Salvini, the leader of the right-wing League party and a staunch opponent of migration, as his “hero.”

If Orban and his Fidesz party are ousted from the EPP, he is likely to look to strengthen his links to the far-right in Europe. For now, Orban says he does not want to leave the EPP but simply reform it into a party opposing migration.

“Orban will invest even more energies than until now to build a ‘Plan B’ with the extreme-right leaders in Europe, from Salvini to Le Pen to Germany’s AfD,” said Biro-Nagy. “Orban’s true friends are no longer in the EPP; his true friends are in the European extreme-right.”

Hungary claimed its defeat in the European Parliament involved “massive fraud” since 48 abstentions weren’t counted in the final tally, which made it easier to reach the needed majority. Szijjarto said Hungary was considering legal options to appeal the result.

However, according to Article 354 of the Lisbon Treaty, reforms adopted in 2007 after the EU expanded from 15 to 27 members, “for the purposes of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, the European Parliament shall act by a twothirds majority of the votes cast.” This would seemingly exclude abstentions from the tally.

Orban’s critics and opponents were elated by the outcome. Judith Sargentini, who presented the report prepared by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home A airs, called it “a historic result for Hungarian and for European citizens.”

“Viktor Orban’s government has been leading the charge against European values by silencing independent media, replacing critical judges, and putting academia on a leash,” Sargentini said. “The