The Hungarian authorities must remedy any breaches of key EU values swiftly, said MEPs on Wednesday 3 July. If they fail to do so Parliament’s leaders should consider asking the Council of the EU to determine, under EU Treaty Article 7.1, whether there is a clear risk of a serious breach, MEPs say. They also want a high-level group to monitor compliance with the EU’s values in all member states.
In the resolution, adopted by 370 votes to 249, with 82 abstentions, Parliament stresses that the EU is founded on key values such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law, as enshrined in Article 2 of the EU Treaty.
“Constitutional changes in Hungary have been systemic and they have a general trend that moves away from EU values enshrined in EU Treaty Article 2,” said Portuguese Green MEP Rui Tavares, who wrote the resolution, in the debate on Tuesday. “Democracy is about the rule of the majority, but not about majoritarianism,” he added.
Parliament regrets that the process of drafting and adopting Hungary’s constitution “lacked the transparency, openness, inclusiveness and, ultimately, the consensual basis that could be expected in a modern democratic constituent process” and deplores the fact that the institutional changes “resulted in a clear weakening of the system of checks and balances”.
MMA countdown – Free Artists welcomes the resigned MMA-members!
TRANSZPARENCIÁT!