Katalin Halmai (Strasbourg);
European Parliament;
2024-04-24 18:57:00
According to Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, Hungary has ceased to be a democracy.
With 399 yes votes, 117 no votes and 28 abstentions, the European Parliament on Wednesday adopted its resolution on strengthening the rule of law in Hungary, which once again states that Hungary has become a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy. In other words, Hungary has ceased to be a democracy – stated Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield of the French Green Party, the parliamentary speaker responsible for the issue, at the press conference presenting the document. Just like the decision, the EP representative emphasized the responsibility of the EU institutions in that the procedures for the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in the country did not achieve the desired effect.
In the final vote, Anna Donáth’s immediate amendment, which calls on the European Commission to ask the EU Court of Justice to immediately suspend the application of the law, received a majority, as the legislation violates the principle of free and fair elections.
The EP complains that the seven-article procedure taking place in the intergovernmental EU Council – the purpose of which is to determine whether the core values of the EU are permanently and seriously violated in Hungary – has been stuck in one place for years, instead of the member states reaching at least the formulation of recommendations.
The representatives are concerned that the European Commission released 10.2 billion euros in catch-up funds last year, so that the mechanisms to control the proper use of the funds are not yet in place in the country. Therefore, they call on the EU executive body to withdraw its decision and freeze EU funds until all legislation related to the lifting of subsidies has been fully implemented and until the effectiveness of the adopted measures has been proven in practice. The European Commission is also invited to investigate the complaints of foreign companies targeted and discriminated against by the Hungarian authorities and to submit the relevant cases to the Court of Justice of the EU.
The press conference presenting the decision was attended by the father of Ilaria Salis, the Italian activist detained in Hungary, who says that the conditions of his daughter’s detention violate human rights and human dignity. Salis is running in the EP elections on the joint list of the Greens and the extreme left.
Tags: requests judicial suspension Sovereignty Protection Act
