EU rule of law procedure hangs over Hungary
The justice committee of the EU parliament on Monday voted to launch a rule of law procedure against Hungary. This threatens to strip the country of its EU voting rights on the grounds of grave violations of European values. The regime-friendly Hungarian press smell a conspiracy.
EU wants to force its 'values' on us
The EU Parliament is conducting a smear campaign against the Hungarian government, jurist Miklós Szántho complains on the pro-government website 888.hu:
“The main problem is that an ideological debate about the concept of democracy and the sovereignty of nation states is being dressed up as a legal issue. The tools for this are 'European values' such as 'democracy', 'equality', the 'rule of law', 'human rights' and 'justice' which are enshrined in article 2 of the EU treaties, but which upon closer inspection have never been precisely defined. Even if the EU's elite claims there is a consensus on these concepts among the member states, it is not true. Because the constitution of each country defines what it understands by 'the rule of law' or 'democracy'.”
Occupational therapy for Hungary's opposition
The vote of the EU ministers leaves Magyar Hírlap cold:
“The procedure could end with our EU membership being withdrawn. But there's a long way to go yet. The EU parliament first has to vote on it in September and it will need a two-thirds majority to go through. If it clears this hurdle then comes the European Council with the heads of state and government, where Poland will most certainly exercise its veto. In other words, the plan is doomed to fail, but this is no grounds for mourning because it's an opportunity to gripe in all sorts of forums about Viktor Orbán being a dictator. And that will cheer up the broken Hungarian opposition.”