News from Europe

French MEP denounces a “judgment of dubious value” regarding Poland and Hungary

On January 16 a resolution on the rule of law in Poland and Hungary has been adopted by the European Parliament. Despite the fact that the resolution has been adopted with a large majority, the results shows that the largest political group of the EP (Eupopean Peoples Party) remains strongly divided over this issue.

The resolution considers that the situation in Poland and Hungary has deteriorated since the outbreak of Article 7.  It stresses the “absolute necessity” of putting in place new mechanisms relating to “democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights”.

Several MEP’s belonging to the EP’s largest political group, the EPP, rebelled against their group by voting against the resolution. This concerns the MEP’s from Hungarian Fidesz but also the Spaniards from the People’s Party (PP), the Italians from Forza Italia (FI) and the French from the Republican party (LR). 

The leader of the group of French LR MEPs in the EP, François-Xavier Bellamy, explained in an interview with the portal Visegrád Post why this happened.

” Compliance with the rule of law is crucial for our countries. However, it is precisely for this reason that we can question the way in which each country manages the issue of the rule of law, only on the basis of very serious and solid facts, with great care and on the basis of well-led reflection. The resolution, which initially covered two different countries in one text, could not be anything other than a judgment of dubious value.” 

Bellamy believes that this situation shows the instrumentalization of the rule of law by other political groups as part of the political debate. “I believe that everyone has the right to disagree with Viktor Orbán, but political dissent should not be transformed into such a serious accusation regarding the rule of law, ” he added.

He further noted that the resolution did not mention any specific facts.

“I think that the very politicized nature of this initiative becomes even more pronounced if you compare its tone with the unease shown by, for example, members of the socialist group when you need to talk about the situation in Malta. The procedure under Article 7 was not initiated against Malta, although corruption is reaching a worrying level there: a journalist was killed and the perpetrators haven’t been arrested until today. (…) “

To those who believed that the Von Der Leyen era would bring appeasement between the Eu institution and Polish and Hungarian governmnents, the vote of this resolution shows that the conflict is far from being resolved.

Sources:

visegradpost.com

dorzeczy.pl

www.votewatch.eu

Image: www.franceculture.fr

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