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Budapest calls on Commissioner Jourová to resign because she is said to have called Hungary a “sick democracy”. The commissioner will present a report on Hungary on Wednesday. Viktor Orbán is already showing what he thinks of her.
It almost seemed a bit reassuring on Monday. Because Germany shook hands with Hungary and Poland with a compromise proposal. Cuts in EU subsidies would only be possible once it has been established that breaches of the rule of law have a direct impact on the handling of EU money. The EU Commission wanted to take a more difficult path and make access to finance generally dependent on compliance with the rule of law. Then there could be a compromise.
But the mood between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the EU Commission hit a new low on Tuesday. Hungary and the Commission have long been discussing what a constitutional state is, a “right” in the sense of a “good” state. However, the latest statements by the Czech EU Commissioner Vera Jourová broke the Hungarian barrel.
Jourová, who is also an EU Commissioner for Transparency and Values, described the state of the Hungarian media landscape as “alarming” according to the German Press Agency (dpa) in an interview with “Der Spiegel” magazine. There is hardly any criticism of the government in the media, so it is possible that a large majority of Hungarians can no longer form a free opinion. The Czech said of Orban: “I would say: you are building a sick democracy.”
Orbán asks for resignation
Orbán’s reaction came with a loud crash. In a letter addressed to the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, published on Tuesday, Orbán called for his resignation. Jourová had violated her mandate and Hungary suspended all contacts with her until she resigned. Internal EU diplomatic ice age, so to speak, between the Commissioner and the country for which she is going to examine sanctions.
As Vice-President of the EU Commission, Jourová is responsible, among other things, for the sanctions procedure against Budapest. The politician, who belongs to the liberal populist ANO of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, is one of the heavyweights of the Brussels authority. Orbán’s call for resignation comes shortly before the Commissioner publishes a report on the rule of law.
“The statements of Vice President Vera Jourová are incompatible with her current mandate and, therefore, her resignation is inevitable,” Orbán said. She was particularly outraged that Jourová had said that Hungarians could not form an independent opinion. This is an “unacceptable” insult to the Hungarian people.
Jourová strengthens her back
In any case, the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has backed the Czech Republic. Von der Leyen is working closely with Jourová on the rule of law, a spokeswoman for the authority in Brussels said on Tuesday. Jourová has “full confidence” in the president of the EU Commission.
The Commission also announced that the agency will present its first annual report on the rule of law in all 27 member states on Wednesday. This was originally only planned on Monday, after the EU heads of state and government summit later this week, which Orbán will also attend.
The spokeswoman declined to comment directly on the question of whether the advance was a response to Orbán’s call for resignation. Consequently, it is the usual process that weekly committee meeting topics are only finally announced one day in advance.
Criticisms of MEPs
For Austrian MEPs, Orbán’s criticism of the EU commissioner is incomprehensible. Jourová “stands up for our rights, our values and therefore our community as well,” wrote ÖVP EU MEP Othmar Karas on Twitter. Orbán does what he accuses Jourová: ‘the flagrant violation of the principle of honest cooperation’ “.
Social Democratic MEP Bettina Vollath announced in a broadcast that “when a woman expresses her complaints in clear language, authoritarian rulers get nervous.” Jourová has her “full support.” The EU must not give in now, otherwise “it damages its own credibility, internally and externally,” Vollath continued. The MEP’s compromise proposal for a rule of law mechanism does not go far enough for the MEP: “The proposal gives way at a crucial point, the only lever left is mismanagement of EU funds.”
Orbán would do well to save himself more excessive words and instead take Brussels’s criticism seriously.
Monika Vana, The Greens
Monika Vana, head of the Greens delegation in the EU Parliament, also harshly criticized him in a broadcast: “Orbán would do well to save himself more exaggerated speeches and instead take Brussels criticism seriously. His current political course it is anti-European and has no Reason. ” The request for resignation could be “ignored in the best possible way.” Referring to the EU budget negotiations in the autumn, Vana demanded “finally effective instruments to put the violators of the rule of law and the anti-democratic in their place.
Orbán’s request for resignation shows that the Hungarian prime minister “prefers to gag his opponents rather than deal with criticism,” says a broadcast from Neos MEP Claudia Gamon, and she harshly criticized the European and Austrian People’s Party ( EPP or ÖVP): “The EPP apparently continues to support Orbán and is unable to separate from him. How long do you want to see the ÖVP here?” For Neos and the Renew Europe group, an EU budget and reconstruction fund without a “real” rule of law mechanism is “absolutely unacceptable”.
(klepa / Ag.)
