The hearing of Prime Minister Victor Orbán in the plenary today and his attempt to shift the responsibility anywhere else, but not on his own governance proved once again that he is willing to sacrifice core European values in the name of his own populist agenda.
PES President Sergei Stanishev said:’The EPP, where Mr. Orbán’s Fidesz party currently belongs, has failed to take any meaningful action against the repeated attacks of Orbán’s government on the rule of law, independence of media, NGOs, and judiciary and academic freedom. Triggering article 7 (1) is the institutional tool the EU has at our disposal to counter such blatant attacks on European values in a Member State. If during tomorrow’s vote in the European Parliament the EPP Group and its president Manfred Webe are going to protect Orbán, they will be sharing the guilt of breaking basic values of the European Union.”
As Socialists and Democrats, we feel it is our duty to act in the interest of all European citizens and show that such behaviour cannot be tolerated any longer. What we see in Hungary under Orbán’s rule is not the Europe its founding fathers dreamed of, and not the Europe we signed up to with the Treaties.
