EU Parliament calls to strip Hungary of voting rights in rule-of-law clash

[Beijingwalker]

EU Parliament calls to strip Hungary of voting rights in rule-of-law clash​

Viktor Orbán blasts back at lawmakers.

JANUARY 18, 2024

STRASBOURG — MEPs demanded the EU Council explore the possibility of stripping Hungary of its EU voting rights in a clash with Budapest over the rule of law.

In a vote Thursday at the European Parliament, a majority of MEPs backed a nonbinding resolution calling on the other 26 EU countries’ governments to use a sub-clause in the EU treaties “to take action and to determine whether Hungary has committed serious and persistent breaches of EU values.”

It’s the latest salvo in a yearslong standoff between the Parliament — which successfully triggered a similar and still ongoing procedure in 2018 — and Hungary’s self-styled “illiberal” leader Viktor Orbán who is accused of riding roughshod over democratic values and the independence of the judicial system, and who has held up fresh EU funding for war-hit Ukraine.

Hungarian liberal lawmaker Katalin Cseh said in a statement: “This House shows that we are serious when it comes to defending the rule of law in our Union and that we are not afraid of Prime Minister Orbán’s blackmailing attempts. The Commission will now have to face the consequences for selling out our EU values.”

Earlier Orbán accused MEPs of wanting to “strip people of their rights to make decisions on their future,” he said on X. “What an anti-democratic position!”

The MEPs’ move has no legal effect as it is not down to the European Parliament to take such a measure, but it sends a political signal to the other EU institutions about the extent of unhappiness with MEPs about Orbán’s backsliding on the rule of law, and how little is being done by the EU to address it. 120 MEPs had already signed a widely circulated but equally nonbinding petition calling for the same measure.

The Parliament’s move comes days before an EU leaders’ summit in February where the Commission and EU countries are hoping to coax Hungary into reversing its opposition to release EU funding for war-hit Ukraine.

MEPs also demanded exploring the possibility of taking the EU’s executive to the Court of Justice of the European Union outraged at its decision to unfreeze some €10 billion for Hungary. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week told MEPs the move was justified — though she riled up some MEPs by leaving before the debate finished. The Parliament’s legal affairs committee, in tandem with the Parliament’s legal service, will now have to examine the feasibility of launching such a case, in which as a first step the Court would be asked to check the legality of the Commission’s unfreezing of funds.

MEPs did not support a push by the liberal Renew Europe group to threaten to withdraw confidence in the European Commission if it was to unfreeze more funds for Hungary, a sum that currently stands at some €20 billion of EU funds.

Senior liberal lawmaker Guy Verhofstadt launched an excoriating attack on von der Leyen during this week’s debate. But the center-right EPP group threatened to blow up the entire resolution if the motion of censure passed, and it ultimately failed by a large margin.

A bid from the far left to suspend Hungary’s presidency of the rotating Council of the EU — which will span July to December this year — also failed.

In the end 345 MEPs voted in favor of the resolution, 104 against and 29 abstained.

EU Parliament calls to strip Hungary of voting rights in rule-of-law clash

Viktor Orbán blasts back at lawmakers.

www.politico.eu

 

[RescueRanger]

The EU is a self destructive body.

 

[Beijingwalker]

Slovakia and Hungary defy EU over aid to Ukraine
January 18, 2024

Given that Orbán is increasingly isolated in Brussels, Fico, who won Slovakia's September elections on a pro-Russian, anti-US platform, could prove to be an important ally in the former's ongoing disputes with the EU.


Slovak and Hungarian Prime Ministers Robert Fico and Victor Orbán are agreed that a European Union plan to provide financial assistance to Ukraine should be reframed.

Slovakia’s concurrence serves to endorse last month’s veto by Orbán of EU efforts to approve the funding. It comes just days after demonstrations in Slovakia against Fico’s overhaul of the country’s justice system.

When the two leaders met in Budapest on Tuesday, Fico told a joint press conference that, like Orbán, he agreed the EU should not finance a planned 50 billion euro aid package for Ukraine from the bloc’s common budget. He made clear that he shared Orbán’s view that the war in Ukraine could not be resolved militarily.

Highlighting the bond between the two countries in his remarks to the press, Orbán cited the value each places on its sovereignty. Neither, he said, is happy about the kind of overriding initiatives stemming from Brussels, including its efforts to legitimise illegal migration. Fico echoed his counterpart’s sentiments, calling Orbán’s proposals for a review of the EU budget and aid to Ukraine “rational and sensible.”

The bloc has withheld billions in funding from Budapest over concerns that Orbán’s government has cracked down on judicial independence, media freedom and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

Some critics in the EU maintain Orbán used his veto power over assistance to Ukraine in order to leverage access to these frozen funds. According to Fico, the withholding of these funds was sufficient justification for Orbán to oppose EU funding for Ukraine. Many of the bloc’s leaders who were aiming to provide Kyiv with a consistent cash flow for the next four years were reportedly angered by the move. Unanimity is required for decisions affecting the EU budget, and Orbán was the only one of the bloc’s 27 leaders to vote against the funding.

Last week, a cross-coalition group of 120 EU lawmakers signed a petition urging that Hungary be stripped of its voting rights in the bloc’s decision making, maintaining that Orbán had repeatedly violated EU values by subverting democratic institutions since taking office in 2010.
When EU leaders meet again as expected on 1 February in a bid to conclude the financial package, Orbán’s veto power will again be a factor.

Given that Orbán is increasingly isolated in Brussels, Fico, who won Slovakia’s September elections on a pro-Russian, anti-US platform, could prove to be an important ally in the former’s ongoing disputes with the EU. However, while the two leaders may agree on such issues as migration, anti-LGBTI or Islamophobia, analysts suggest that the Slovak Prime Minister, all too aware of what has happened vis-a-vis the rule of law in Poland and Hungary, will adopt a more pragmatic approach in his dealings with the EU and seek to avoid an outright confrontation with Brussels.

Slovakia and Hungary defy EU over aid to Ukraine

Slovak and Hungarian Prime Ministers Robert Fico and Victor Orbán are agreed that a European Union plan to provide financial assistance to Ukraine should be reframed. Slovakia’s concurrence serves to endorse last month’s veto by Orbán of EU efforts to approve the funding. It comes just days...

www.europeaninterest.eu