ALDE Party – Liberals and Democrats for Europe: “Over the past years, the Hungarian government has been relentlessly undermining the principles of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights. Recent developments have shown that Mr Orban’s administration has been stepping up the pace in challenging EU fundamental values, to an extent that if Hungary were to apply today to the EU, it might not even qualify”, said ALDE vice-president Sophie in ‘t Veld (D66, Netherlands). “Europe is a community of values. We have to stand up for those values, when they are under threat. Europe cannot credibly promote fundamental rights abroad, if we do not enforce them within the EU itself. We should also send a powerful signal that authoritarianism and intolerance have no place in Europe. Not in Hungary nor anywhere else”. In this respect, Liberals and Democrats have called for a debate in next weeks plenary session of the European Parliament. ALDE will propose for the matter to be included in the agenda. It is time the EPP family speaks up for fundamental rights and the rule of law. How much longer will they cover for their party friend, who has publicly and defiantly declared he no longer believes in liberal democracy? ALDE will also hold a hearing on the situation in Hungary, next Tuesday, 16 September 2014 in Strasbourg. Representatives of civil society, press and experts have been invited to speak about developments in Hungary. The hearing will be open to press and public, and it will be webstreamed. e15_michel_louis_web.jpg“The strategy of Orban is clear; he wants to transform Hungary into an authoritarian regime. The European Parliament as well as the entire EU must use their respective roles to uphold EU fundamental values. The current situation in Hungary already shows the inefficiency of the new mechanism, proposed by the Commission in May 2014, to address systematic threats to the rule of law that could turn into a clear risk of a serious breach of EU values”, said Louis Michel (MR, Belgium). “Silence from the European Parliament and the other EU institutions over this situation would be an act of complicity in undermining our EU values”.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:11:31 +0000
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