S&D Group president Udo Bullmann has urged the EPP Group, led by his counterpart Manfred Weber, to finally stand up for European values and vote to initiate Article 7 (1) of the EU Treaty against the Hungarian government tomorrow. The vote comes after a sustained and systemic attack from Viktor Orbán’s government on the independent media, non-governmental organisations, and the courts in Hungary.
For the procedure to pass it requires the backing of an absolute majority of MEPs, i.e 376, and two-thirds of the vote cast (an abstention does not count as a vote cast). Therefore it is essential that as many MEPs as possible from the supposedly pro-EU EPP party vote in favour of the resolution.
S&D Group president Udo Bullmann said:
“The EPP Group and their president Manfred Weber must distance themselves from Viktor Orbán if they do not want to lose all credibility as a pro-European party. While Orbán’s government has attacked everything from universities, to judges and independent media, the EPP has refused to act. What we are witnessing in Hungary is not a series of isolated incidents. It is a concerted attack on institutions and organisations that are supposed to provide checks and balances on a government in a liberal democracy. Enough is enough. The European Parliament needs to show that the EU has the will and the means to act when its basic values are being eroded in a member state.
“We urge all members of the EPP Group to finally stand up for the common European values which they say they believe in. It is unthinkable that the party of great Europeans like Robert Schuman now refuses to act when democracy and the rule of law is under threat in an EU member state. Tomorrow is the chance for the EPP Group to show its true colours.”
