ALDE CALLS ON COMMISSION TO APPLY FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS CHECK TO HUNGARY

Responding to the dangerous erosion of democratic institutions and political freedoms in Hungary, ALDE president Guy Verhofstadt called today for the EU to step up pressure on the authorities in Budapest.

"The recent developments in Hungary such as undermining of press freedom and the dismissal of journalists are profoundly worrying and confirm the strong concerns we expressed this time last year. The European Commission was right to request the withdrawal of legal acts undermining basic principles of freedom and democracy.
Unless there is a willingness to do so, the EU now must take further action."

"It is no longer a matter of 'exchange of letters' between the Commission and the Orban givernment: the time has now come to initiate legal and political sanctions by the EU institutions, on the basis of the EU treaties, and agreed by the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament."

"ALDE intends to follow up the matter with all parliamentary means at our disposal to ensure that the reactionary reforms of the Orban government are reversed."

"The Commission and the Council must be called to the next  EP plenary session to report on what they intend to do in relation to Hungary. In addition the responsible committees for evaluating breaches of fundamental rights and the rule of law should be invited to examine the various changes enacted and to report to plenary."

"The Liberal and Democrat group may also decide to organise a further hearing with civil society organisations and constitutional experts from respected international organisations, as we did in January last year, to shed light on the dangerous erosion of the checks and balances to Hungarian democracy."

"The Treaties foresee, in article 7 TEU, a procedure to deal with such situations. Unfortunately, the time has come to apply it; to protect democracy and fundamental rights in Hungary and in the EU today and avoid setting a dangerous precedent as well as a bad example for aspirant countries wishing to join the Union."