Photo: EC Audiovisual service |
Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini was give a standing
ovation in the European parliament on Wednesday after MEPs agreed to take
disciplinary action against Hungary on the basis of a report she compiled.
Parliament voted to take steps against Hungary over breaches of the EU’s core
values, including attacks on the media, minorities and the judiciary.
More than
two-thirds of MEPs backed the censure motion – the first such vote against a
member state under EU rules. If national leaders also support the motion,
Hungary could face sanctions and be stripped of voting rights.
Sargentini said
later the decision sent out an important message about citizens’ rights. ‘It is
up to the European leaders to take their responsibility and stop watching from
the sidelines as the rule of law is destroyed in Hungary,’ she is quoted as
saying by the BBC.
‘This is unacceptable for a union that is built on
democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.’
Prime minister Viktor Orban
said Sargentini’s report was ‘abuse of power and included ‘serious factual
misrepresentations’.
Dutch anti-Islam campaigner and MP Geert Wilders described
the vote on Twitter as ‘a bloody shame’. ‘Orban is a hero and deserves the
Nobel Prize,’ he said.
I am so proud that my Hungary report has the support of the European Parliament, but this is foremost about the rights of Hungarian citizens.— Judith Sargentini (@judithineuropa) September 12, 2018
I thank my colleagues that stand for the protection of democracy and the rule of law, above their interest in party politics.
The European Parliament's vote to censure Hungary presents the assembly's dominant centre-right bloc with a dilemma over whether to retain its populist Hungarian allies or expel them months before elections https://t.co/FO0kUn5oR5— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 13, 2018
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