Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said he has "no time" for scathing criticism from fellow EU member of the sweeping powers he took on this week to tackle the coronavirus threat.
Thirteen European centre-right parties urged their European People's Party political group to expel Orban's Fidesz party after he assumed emergency powers on Monday.
Orban insists he must rule by decree to tackle the spread of the pandemic. But many, including some of his allies in the EPP, accuse him of a power grab gone too far. "With all due respect I have no time for this," said Orban in a letter to EPP Secretary General Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White posted on Twitter by one of his ministers, Katalin Novak. "I can hardly imagine any of us having time for.