Really bad news from the European Parliament to PM Viktor Orbán

HUNGARY - In Brief 17 May 2017 by Istvan Racz
Today, the European Parliament voted by 393 votes against 221 with 64 abstentions that in Hungary, there is a serious deterioration in the rule of law and democracy. The resolution calls for:- the launching of Article 7(1) of the Lisbon Treaty. MEPs instruct the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs to draw up a formal resolution for a plenary vote;- the Hungarian government to repeal laws tightening rules against asylum-seekers and non-governmental organizations, and to reach an agreement with the US authorities, making it possible for the Central European University to remain in Budapest as a free institution;- the European Commission to strictly monitor the use of EU funds by the Hungarian government.Well, this is a kind of real bad news for the Hungarian government. In our latest monthly, published two days ago, we guessed that the EP vote was likely to be a close call. But in fact the leftist party families' draft resolution went through rather easily, as 67 MPs out of the European People Party's (Fidesz' own party family) 217 total voted for the leftist proposal, and another 40 of them abstained. This means that the leaders of the EPP, which defended Mr. Orbán from leftist-liberal criticism in the EP so many times in the past, have proven now unable to control their own factions on this subject, despite a last-minute attempt by the faction head Mr. Weber to sharpen the language of EPP's own proposed resolution.At the legal level, Article 7(1) of the Lisbon Treaty actually says:'On a reasoned proposal by one third of the Member States, by the European Parliament or by the European Commission, the Council, acting by a majority of four fifths of its...

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