Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is seriously considering leaving the center-right European People's Party | Laszlo Balogh/Getty Images Orbán considering leaving EPP, says senior Fidesz member Hungary’s ruling party has been suspended from the center-right political family since March.

BUDAPEST — The ruling Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is seriously considering leaving the center-right European People's Party (EPP), a senior Fidesz member told POLITICO.

The Fidesz leadership is exploring the possibility of joining Poland's ruling Law and Justice party in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, the Fidesz member added, noting that under such an arrangement Orbán would play a leading role in the ECR.

Hungary's ruling party was suspended from the EPP political family last March over rule-of-law concerns, though the party's 13 MEPs remain part of the EPP group within the European Parliament.

"We cannot compromise on democracy, rule of law, freedom of press, academic freedom or minorities rights," then-EPP leader Joseph Daul said following the decision to suspend Fidesz. "Anti-EU rhetoric is unacceptable. The divergences between EPP and Fidesz must cease," he added.

Daul's successor, Donald Tusk, will make a recommendation to EPP members regarding the future of Fidesz in the coming weeks, after a panel produced an internal assessment on whether Fidesz is acting in accordance with the party's rules and values. The matter is expected to be discussed during a meeting of the EPP political assembly in early February.

Formally, the Hungarian government has maintained over the past months that it wishes to stay in the EPP.

"I don't think Fidesz will be a member of the [EPP]," said Gábor G. Fodor, who heads the Századvég Foundation, a think tank closely affiliated with Fidesz, speaking on pro-government channel HírTV this week. Fodor added that the party's membership was linked to the issue of migration.

After Fidesz's suspension from the EPP, some conservative European politicians hoped that the move would pressure Hungary's leadership to reverse some of its policies. But Orbán has not addressed many of his critics' concerns, and over the past months he has taken steps which his opponents say pose new threats to the independence of the judiciary and academic freedom.

Fidesz "has not improved its behavior" since the suspension, Finnish EPP MEP Petri Sarvamaa told POLITICO. "In fact, changing their behavior doesn't seem to be in their interest."

Meanwhile, experts and officials in Budapest have raised alarm over what they describe as attempted political interference in independent institutions, including courts, theaters, universities and intelligence agencies. At the same time, foreign officials are concerned about growing Kremlin influence in Hungary.

Speaking at the EPP's congress in Zagreb in November, Tusk told reporters that Orbán is a “very close friend,” but that he didn’t agree with “ideas represented” by the Hungarian leader, especially his “illiberal democracy.”

“We are determined to fight against that type of idea,” Tusk added.

Formally, the Hungarian government has maintained over the past months that it wishes to stay in the EPP. Contacted by POLITICO, Orbán's chief of staff, Minister Gergely Gulyás, pointed to an interview with Hungarian TV channel ATV earlier this week, where he said that "Fidesz remaining or leaving for the [EPP] is a question of choosing a direction."

The EPP would not be able to remain a "Christian democratic, center-right, conservative party family" without Fidesz and its European allies, Gulyás told the channel, adding that "Fidesz's departure for the [EPP] would be the beginning of the end."

Orbán himself has repeatedly floated the possibility of a Fidesz exit from the EPP if the party does not change.

"If they continue to move to the left, that is not our way," the prime minister told reporters in November. "If, however, they are ready to go back to their Christian democratic roots, we can probably continue within the EPP."