Posted on September 12, 2018

Hungary Condemns EU Decision to Hit the Country with Punishment over Its Immigration Stance

Khaleda Rahman, Daily Mail and AP and AFP, September12, 2018

Hungary has denounced a vote by the European Union to take action against the country’s populist government as ‘pretty revenge by pro-immigration politicians.’

European Union lawmakers voted on Wednesday {snip} 448-197 in favor of a report recommending the launch of a so-called Article 7 procedure, which could lead to the suspension of Hungary’s European Union voting rights.

But Hungary called the vote fraudulent and vowed to challenge it.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, echoing Orban’s longtime position, called the Wednesday’s vote ‘petty revenge’ against Hungary for its tough anti-migration policies.

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It is the first time in EU history that the European Parliament had initiated and approved such a motion, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass and was approved by 69.4 percent of the lawmakers.

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Critics say that Hungary’s electoral system is disproportionate; media freedoms and judicial independence are dwindling; asylum-seekers and refugees are mistreated and there are limits placed on non-governmental organisations.

Szijjarto also claimed that the vote involved ‘massive fraud’ since abstentions weren’t counted into the final tally, which made it easier to reach the needed majority.

There were 48 abstentions, so the 448 in favor exceeded the two-thirds needed only because it was based on 645 votes.

If the abstentions were counted into the final tally, there would have been a total 693 votes, so the 448 in favor wouldn’t have reached two-thirds.

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But Judith Sargentini, who presented the report prepared by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, welcomed the outcome.

‘Viktor Orban’s government has been leading the charge against European values by silencing independent media, replacing critical judges, and putting academia on a leash,’ Sargentini said.

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The move saw some members of the European People’s Party bloc — of which Orban’s Fidesz movement is a member — vote against their ally in Budapest.

Even EPP leader Mandred Weber, who earlier was supportive of Orban and is seeking to become the European Commission president next year, said he had voted for triggering Article 7.

While Weber had called on Orban to show a willingness to compromise on some of the most high-profile issues – like an agreement being delayed by the Hungarian government for the Central European University, founded by George Soros, Orban’s ideological opponent, to remain in Budapest and recent laws criminalising the work of civic groups working with asylum-seekers and refugees — Orban remained steadfast that his policies wouldn’t change.

‘I have nothing to compromise about since the questions they objected to were decided by the Hungarian people,’ Orban said Tuesday in Strasbourg, France, after the debate in the European Parliament on the report on Hungary.

‘There is nothing to talk about.’

Orban, who was re-elected in April to his third consecutive term in office, fourth overall also said Tuesday that he expected lawmakers to approve the motion with the support of some EPP lawmakers.

‘The order has arrived from Berlin and they will vote accordingly,’ Orban said, in reference to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose governing Christian Democratic Union is the largest party in the EPP.

Orban has insisted that all of the criticism against his government is based on Hungary’s tough anti-immigration policies, which include fences built in 2015 on Hungary’s southern borders with Serbian and Croatia to divert the flow of migrants and very restrictive asylum rules.

He has also expressed his desire to remain within the EPP, which he said was ‘deeply divided’ on the issue of migration.