During the plenary session (13-16 January 2020) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs assess the progress made by EU ministers in determining whether rule of law and European values are at risk in Hungary. Statements by Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, Vĕra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT), Sylwia SPUREK (S&D, PL), Ramona STRUGARIU (RE, RO) and Katarina BARLEY (S&D, DE).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

JOUROVÁ, Věra (EC)

EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights (T)

EU - Hungary (T)

BARLEY, Katarina (S&D, DE)

SPUREK, Sylwia (Greens/EFA, PL)

STRUGARIU, Ramona (Renew, RO)

BRNJAC, Nikolina (HR)

Ongoing hearings under article 7(1) of the TEU regarding Hungary: extracts from the debate

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/18768303/I182834Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

Title: Ongoing hearings under article 7(1) of the TEU regarding Hungary: extracts from the debate (I-182834)

SOUNDBITE (English), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, It is our intention to continue to keep the Parliament regularly informed on the developments concerning Article 7 procedure regarding Hungary. Thank you very much for your attention.

SOUNDBITE (English), V&#277;ra JOUROV&#193;, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, As regards the situation in Hungary, the Commission has already explained at different occasions that it shares an important number of concerns expressed by the European Parliament in its recent proposal, triggering the Article 7 procedure. The Commission has also made very clear that whatever position the council will be taking on the article 7 Procedure, it must ensure a fair handling of the recent proposal put forward by the European Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (English), V&#277;ra JOUROV&#193;, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The area of media pluralism, last December, 6 international organizations of journalists and media published a report stating that since 2010, the Hungarian government has systematically dismantled media pluralism, in particular because the media ownership is concentrated in the hands of the government and the media market is distorted by state advertising.

SOUNDBITE (Maltese), Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT), Without rule of law, institutions are damaged, there is no protectio for citizens and there is no trust in countries. European citizenship means that we are protecting the rights of the citizens and this is what the European Union is all about. And therefore, this Union and this Parliament should safeguard the rule of law.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Sylwia SPUREK (S&amp;D, PL), The situation is clear. Hearings held under Article 7 brought no progress. Of course, this is not only a problem of Hungary because likewise, Article 7 is ineffective with regard to the situation in Poland. Let's face it, the European Union has now no capacity to quickly restore the rule of law in its member states. This is why the time has come for new mechanisms to begin with. Let's tie the extent of the country's compliance with the rule of law to EU funds.

SOUNDBITE (Romanian), Ramona STRUGARIU (RE, RO), Hungary grew and developed so beautifully using and with the help of European money. So did Poland. And now you are literally building empires of hate and of disinformation, of manipulation using European money.

SOUNDBITE (German), Katarina BARLEY (S&amp;D, DE), We have the European Court, but we mustn't rest only on this. We need more measures. We must make sure that these regimes can't buy the favor of their people through European money. And we must find the means for sanctions. And if you go against European values, it has sanctions. The population is not the government in Hungary. There are lots of good Democrats and there are very many pro Europeans. We must help them. We must be on their side and we must give them a platform here.