MEPs of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) debate on the he situation of the rule of law in Hungary, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Statements by Tytti TUPPURAINEN, Finnish Minister for European Affairs, Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (Greens/EFA, FR), Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT), Sylwia SPUREK (S&D, PL), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE) and Didier REYNDERS.

Situation of the rule of law in Hungary: extracts from the debate at the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

SOUNDBITE (English), Tytti TUPPURAINEN, Finnish Minister for European Affairs, As you know, we organized the first hearing of Hungary at the September General Affairs Council. As almost a whole year had elapsed since we received the European Parliament's reasoned proposal, we felt that it was high time to have the first hearing. That hearing was a general one, encompassing all the themes included in the parliament's proposal. It first and foremost gave Hungary an opportunity to have its voice heard as well. A second hearing was organized last week, in December, General Affairs Council. In this hearing, we concentrated on three themes which were freedom of expression, academic freedom and independence of the judiciary.

SOUNDBITE (French), Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (Greens/EFA, FR), Can I just say that I think something very serious happened that morning. There was a live tweet throughout the whole hearing from the spokesperson of the Hungarian government and that live tweet was sometimes had some insults on it, some calumny against certain governments. And we've got to be vigilant. I think it's first time that's ever happened, and I think it's a cause for great concern.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT), Our point as, as a group, has always been that the rule of law must function everywhere and that the values laid down in our treaties must always be respected. But what we have seen these last years is that the mechanisms available on a European level are not as effective or we believe that they are insufficient to reach their aims.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sylwia SPUREK (S&amp;D, PL), While the governments of some EU member states are breaking one boundary after another, breaching the rule of law in a more and more areas, infringing civil rights and liberties, and taking control of media. Sadly, one might have the impression they are doing this with a sense of complete impunity. Recently in Hungary, having violated the independence of judges and the freedom of media academic freedom, Victor Orban's government is attempting to restrict operations of cultural institutions. As my colleague from the Greens said.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), And it's always the same. First they go for the media, then they create this external threat, which is mostly people that have a different religion, and then they use their impact on the media to just talk about that all the time. Then they start attacking civil society that are defending human rights of these groups. Then suddenly these civil society organizations are the internal threat. It's this whole traitor narrative that is coming about. And then this is being used to completely destabilise democratic institutions. And then they go now for culture, for academic institutions and so on. And this has worked ! I mean, we cannot deny the fact that it has worked not only in one member state and we have to stand up to this. And I think not enough has been done. And I can only urge you to really use the things that are at hand as a Council to do something.

SOUNDBITE (English), Didier REYNDERS, Commissioner-designate, Justice, I want to repeat that the previous Commission and it be the same as the actual one. We'll continue to introduce infringement proceedings where it's really needed about Hungary. It was it case about the high education legislation. And so we are awaiting a decision of the Court. We have had the same process with Poland to be concrete.

Situation of the rule of law in Hungary: extracts from the debate at the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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LIBE - Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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