European Parliament slammed for 'attacking Hungary' amidst crises

BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing Fidesz party slammed the European Parliament (EP) for "being occupied with attacking Hungary even in the midst of the current crises".

"While the people of Europe are suffering from an energy crisis due to the failed Brussels sanctions, the most important thing for the leftist European Parliament, even in this crisis situation, is to attack Hungary," Fidesz said in a statement on Thursday, reacting to a rule-of-law vote in EP against his government earlier in the day.

The EP adopted a report by French MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield on the "Existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded".

The vote was 433 in favour, 123 against and 28 abstentions.

The EP resolution, which is a non-binding political statement, stipulates that Hungary can no longer be considered "a full democracy".

The current report does not result in a new procedure, but the EP firmly condemned both the European Commission and the Council, arguing that it was also their responsibility that full democracy in a member state could have been abolished.

It called on both bodies not to transfer money to Hungary's government until the situation improves.

The Commission must decide by September 22 what to do with the conditionality mechanism it launched in April against the government of Hungary.

Based on this mechanism, the transfer of tens of billions of euros in European funds could be denied to Budapest because of rule of law problems.