The European Commission published a formal reply to the Hungarian government's campaign against Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Hungarian-American businessman George Soros on February 28. The EC issued a Hungarian language statement, in which they go through claims of the Hungarian government point by point.

The cabinet's ad campaign runs with the slogan: You have the right to know, what Brussels is planning to do. It claims that Brussels wanted to simplify immigration, impose mandatory resettlement quotas, weaken members states' right to border protection. 

The communication offensive clearly echoes arguments of the governing Fidesz party in the upcoming election campaign, which raises the prospects of illicit campaigning, opposition parties said before turning to the National Election Committee for an investigation. 

The conservative right-wing Fidesz government used the same tactics before the 2018 general election, launching a multi-billion forints ad campaign against Soros, the European Union and the UN, which in their view threatened Hungary's stability by promoting mass migration.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban successfully capitalised on the fear of the Hungarian electorate of illegal migration when securing the third supermajority victory in the April elections.

The European Commission issued a strong rebuttal shortly after the first ads and billboards appeared last week. European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas called the allegations of the Orban government a ludicrous conspiracy theory and fake news. 

Although Orban has repeatedly campaigned against Brussels and George Soros since the 2015 migration crisis. the latest campaign has caused a major uproar even among the European People's Party (EPP), as the government used the EC president as a target of its attacks, observers said. 

The centre-right EPP counts Juncker and Orban as its members, 

EPP President Joseph Daul condemned the campaign, calling it deceitful, misleading and are not based on facts. EPP fraction leader and candidate for taking over the presidency of the European Commission Manfred Weber is facing renewed calls to expel Fidesz from its ranks. Local media says the issue will be raised at a March meeting.

Flemish CDA and other centre-right parties have called for a discussion about the future of Fidesz within the EPP. "We have to conclude that informal discussions no longer have the desired effects," according to a statement released on Twitter. 

To vote on whether to expel Orban's party from the EPP, the motion should have the support of at least seven member parties from five countries. 

Calls to put Fidesz out of the right-wing alliance strengthened after the European Parliament triggered Article 7 against Hungary for the breach of EU core values in September. 

There had been red lines set by EPP leadership previously, but Orban has successfully eased tensions by promising to adhere to party guidelines. 

The Hungarian PM is fully aware of its bargaining power. When asked about the possibility of being expelled from the EPP, he said: “We are the EPP.” Fidesz is the largest fraction within the group with 12 MEPs. 

Since the April 2018 election win, Orban has further strengthened his grip on media, ousted the private university founded by Soros, the Central European University and the government is planning to centralise research funding of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which could narrow academic freedom. The establishment of public administrative courts is also raising fears as regards the independence of the judiciary.

The European Commission agrees that citizens do deserve to know the truth about what the EU is doing," the Commission wrote on Thursday.

"But we believe they deserve fact, not fiction. The Hungarian government campaign distorts the truth and seeks to paint a dark picture of a secret plot to drive more migration to Europe. The truth is that there is no conspiracy. "The claims made by the Hungarian government are at worst downright factually incorrect or at best highly misleading. And none of it has anything to do with George Soros," the Commission emphasised in a document.

Government communication was unfazed by the unusually strong rebuttal by the European Commission. A government spokesperson said the response was "another tacit admission" of the ECs plans to promote migration. Istvan Hollik denied local media reports that PMO leader Gergely Gulyas and former Human Resources Miniter Zoltan Balogh discussed the controversial campaign during talks with CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in Berlin on Wednesday.