During the morning of Thursday 26 April, the MEPs of the committee on civil liberties of the European Parliament (LIBE) held a heated debate with the Hungarian minister for foreign affairs and trade, Péter Szijjártó, to discuss the committee's draft report on the rule of law in Hungary, authored by Dutch Greens/EFA member, Judith Sargentini.
Attending to address the committee by her request, the Dutch MEP said, Szijjártó attacked the work of the committee and her work as rapporteur, describing her report as a “pack of lies” about the country. Starting his speech with the argument that the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had won the parliamentary elections with a two-thirds majority for the third time in a row, the Minister started by saying that the Hungarians had very clearly endorsed the government's actions to tackle immigration and the “Soros plan to develop migration”.
He accused the European Parliament of favouring the opposition by falsifying the facts. He then dismissed all observations made by the MEP in the report which, she said, were based on the reports of international bodies such as the OSCE and the Council of Europe. The minister said that there were no problems of freedom of press, which has allegedly been gagged. The press in Hungary is “far more diversified than in other places” and the most popular television channel in the country is “the most critical of the government”, he said, providing further examples. “There are lies, accusations against senior figures in the Hungarian government”. The minister also dismissed accusations of growing anti-Semitism in Hungary. Referring to the case of George Soros, he said that this was not a matter of great concern to the government.
During these tense exchanges with the MEPs of the LIBE committee, Hungarian EPP member Kinga Gál also laid into Sargentini, asking her to “apologise” for quoting incorrect and even “humiliating” things in her report. This debate in Parliament is “scandalous and lacks dignity”, the Hungarian MEP said. It “does not respect Hungary and the Hungarians”. Furthermore, the information has come from “the same NGOs, so-called experts”. This debate is a “show trial, just because you don't agree with our migration policy”, she added.
At the start of the session, Sargentini listed the concerns that led Parliament to call for action in May 2017 to trigger article 7 of the Treaty of the EU. This included alleged attacks on academic freedom through the law on foreign universities, or on the freedom of association, with the law on foreign NGOs and their financing - which the Minister defended as a pro-transparency action.
Several MEPs spoke during this tense debate, including Maltese EPP member Roberta Metsola, who called on the Hungarian government to provide answers to the concerns raised, and Nathalie Griesbeck (ALDE, France), who stressed that Parliament's report was about “what engages and brings together” the Europeans. Amendments to the report must be tabled by 15 May. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)