Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, Spanish MEP of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party, said the report condemning Hungary, which was voted on Wednesday in the European Parliament's LIBE Committee, is based on subjective opinions and politically biased statements, contains vaguely worded concerns and applies double standards.
According to MTI, Fidesz MEP Balázs Hidvéghi, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, Jadwiga Wisniewska, Patryk Jaki and Vincenzo Sofo of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and Jean-Paul Garraud and Annalisa Tardino, MEPs of the Identity and Democracy (ID) party family, submitted an alternative opinion to the EP LIBE Committee's draft report on the rule of law in Hungary.
The document states that objectivity, the application of clear criteria and strict adherence to the facts would have been a prerequisite for the report. However, it raises issues that have already been remedied by the responsible bodies or concern matters that are part of public debates and fall within the exclusive competence of Member States. The report's rapporteur, French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, makes no reference to any real breach of the rule of law, they warned.
“The text is yet another attempt by federalist European political parties to attack Hungary and its Christian Democrat, conservative government on ideological grounds," the Spanish MEP underlined, adding that it is another disappointing work by the European Parliament at a time when the unity of the European Union is needed more than ever.
Speaking to Hungarian journalists, Jorge Buxadé Villalba stressed that Hungary is obviously a democracy, its government is constitutional and it respects the rule of law. In the EP, he said, left-wing, liberal parties are threatening the sovereignty of Member States, now Hungary’s and Poland’s, but other governments in Europe could easily become targets of such an attack, he warned. He also said that the report is not objective and seeks to use the European Parliament to engage in political activity against conservative politicians, who were democratically elected, like the Hungarian government. Finally, he also stressed that reports by the EP apply double standards, punishing only those governments that contradict the direction taken by the political mainstream.
In a statement, Vincenzo Sofo pointed out that Brussels is blackmailing Hungary under the rule of law conditionality regulation on grounds that could be used against both Italy and Spain. He also noted that Brussels wanted to create a federal Europe, one sign of which was the withholding of EU funds from Hungary.
Fidesz MEP Balázs Hidvéghi said that the European left has been unable to get over the fact that Hungary has a national Christian Democrat government that has been re-elected for more than 10 years. He added that they also want to prevent Hungary from reaching an agreement on the recovery funds, and it is a shame that Hungarian opposition MEPs are "eagerly assisting" this. He also pointed out that the document makes several harsh attacks on the Child Protection Act and calls for the reception and compulsory distribution of illegal migrants.
Photo credit: fidesz-eu.hu