Brussels green-lights initiative to halt Hungaryʼs EP vote
Brussels has given the green light to an initiative by the European Humanist Federation (EHF), a civil-society association, to seek a suspension of Hungary’s voting rights in the European Parliament on grounds that there is a lack of democracy in this country, Hungarian online daily index.hu reported today.
Tibor Navracsics, the European Commissioner representing Hungary, opposed the initiative and the fact that it was given a green light during a vote for which he was not present, index.hu said. In a letter cited by index.hu, Navracsics criticized the decision and his exclusion from the vote. Navracsics reportedly said that this is a “sensitive political issue”, which may have consequences “far beyond the aim of the initiative”.
EHF writes on its webpage that “since 2010, Viktor Orbán’s government has repeatedly taken antidemocratic and xenophobic measures that openly violate the basic principles of the rule of law. This situation, and the inadequacy of the EU’s response, has undermined the values underlying the European project as defined in Article 2 TEU: Human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.”
EHF says that in response to this “situation” a committee of EU citizens launched a European Citizenʼs Initiative to call on the European Commission to trigger Article 7 of TEU and bring the Hungarian issue to the Council, allowing the Council to determine the existence of a serious and persistent breach by a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2.
The organization said that “the Hungarian government and the insufficient EU response are putting the European project at risk: It is time to take action!”
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