In a long cover story, the Brussels newspaper looks at the relationship between the Hungarian government and the European Union, which the European People’s Party helps to further soften. Rui Tavares, who speaks in the article, compares the methods of the Hungarian government with those of Frankenstein, and former participants speak that in the time of Jean-Claude Juncker there were great debates about Fidesz among the leaders of the Popular Party.

This shouldn’t have happened, here’s how Political Thursday’s cover story on Viktor Orbán, which revolves around why the European Union could do nothing while democratic norms have been violated in Hungary for years and the government is consolidating its influence through autocratic means.

In the article, more than a dozen current and former politicians as well as EU officials talk about how Orbán used the vulnerability of the EU to empty out Hungarian democracy without ever having to face serious political or economic consequences.

Viviane Reding, a former vice president of the European Commission, who had previously initiated several legal proceedings against the Hungarian government, believed that they had done everything possible.

“It is very frustrating because ‘everything’ is not enough to solve a problem that nobody foresaw and there were no tools available to face it,” said the politician. (By the way, Reding posted the article on Twitter with a “too bad that could have happened” comment.)

The article notes that Orbán’s problems with the European Union began as early as 2010, when the Hungarian government established a media council full of Fidesz, but the European People’s Party did not participate in the protest. The article claims that since then the EPP has been largely responsible for Orbán being able to escape a lot in Brussels. Top party officials firmly believed that if they kept the Hungarian prime minister inside, they could keep him under control. This was also confirmed by Viviane Reding.

Fidesz’s membership in the Popular Party also played an important role during the time of the Hungarian media laws.

“The Commission could have been tougher on the matter,” admitted Neelie Kroes, who was in charge of the file as vice chair of the panel. He claims that he could have done so if Orbán, together with the then president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, had not been a member of the EPP.

The newspaper also reached out to Barroso, who wrote in his response that Orbán’s Popular Party membership had never influenced the commission in how it dealt with the rule of law.

The Hungarian government has often shook off criticism by pointing to similar practices in other member states. This was confirmed by PoliticalTibor Navracsics was also Minister of Justice. Rui Tavares, who was appointed rapporteur for the Hungarian report in 2012, compared Orbán’s method to Frankenstein.

“Dr. Frankenstein created a monster, but the monster was made of pieces of bodies that were not a problem in and of themselves,” he said.

The 2015 refugee crisis again favored the Hungarian Prime Minister in the People’s Party.

“Some party leaders felt very close to Orbán’s views on migration, which was one of the reasons the criticism was not louder,” Jyrki Katainen, a former Finnish prime minister and EU commissioner, said of the controversy surrounding the Hungarian rule of law.

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The fracture finally only occurred in 2019, when Orbán crossed the red line and launched a poster campaign against the committee chairman, Jean-Claude Juncker.

“There is a border that Hungarians have crossed,” said former EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger, who said there was a problem mainly with the style of the campaign.

A Political According to the information, Fidesz will be decided by the People’s Party in the coming months, but its most important member, the German CDU, remains divided on the issue. According to the document, in addition to cooperating with the EPP, Orbán also took advantage of the fact that the EU simply cannot provide an adequate response to internal challenges.

Before joining the European Union, it must become a democracy. The whole system is based on the assumption that once this difficult dividing line is overcome, you can only move forward, ”said Viviane Reding.

The Barroso Commission finally started infringement proceedings against Hungary in 2012, which, according to Tibor Navracsics, surprised the government for the first time.

“We were surprised that they reacted so strongly. The Commission has never acted politically against any political development in Hungary ”, acknowledged the politician.

However, in vain that infringement proceedings reach the European Court of Justice when a decision is made there, the consequences are already irreversible, the newspaper wrote, citing as examples the early retirement of judges and the CEU case.

According to the speakers interviewed, the presidency of Jean-Claude Juncker, who has always been critical of the Hungarian Prime Minister at EPP meetings, has changed the pragmatic approach.

“We had a lot of debates about Fidesz and Orbán in the People’s Party, and the members of the presidency often had a very, very negative attitude towards Orbán’s behavior,” revealed Katainen from Finland.

At the same time, it is an important sign that, in the end, the procedure provided for in the seven-week article was not initiated against the Commission but by the European Parliament against Hungary. At the same time, few think that the procedure would have consequences for the Hungarian government.

The Sargentini report was adopted by the European Parliament in 2018

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The European Commission will issue its report on the rule of law on Member States on September 30, but neither this nor budget conditionality is expected in Brussels. Furthermore, the Hungarian government is particularly optimistic about the committee headed by Ursula von der Leyen.

“I am sure that the Commission will take a professional approach to the issue,” former Hungarian Justice Minister László Trócsányi told the newspaper.

Judith Sargentini summarized the current situation at the end of the article.

“We should have acted earlier, it is already too late, but if Member States come together, maybe they can still do something,” said the former MEP.


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