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In an interview with the German weekly Der Speigel on Friday evening, Czech EU Commissioner Vera Jourová said that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was building a “sick democracy” and that most Hungarians could not form a opinion based on the information they received. According to the contested paragraphs cited by the Hungarian Nation, Jourová said, among other things:
Criticisms of the government barely appear in the Hungarian media, so most Hungarians cannot form their own opinions.
When asked why the European Union does not intervene on the basis of competition law, he replied that the state of the image of the Hungarian media was alarming, but that they could not take action “against this cartel” with the competition rules. of the Union for the moment. In an interview, the vice president of the European Commission expressed his conviction that Viktor Orbán could never achieve such complete control over the media in a Western country and that although the prime minister likes to say that he is building an illiberal democracy, he said Jourová.
build a sick democracy.
He also indicated in the report that “Hungarians will one day realize that their last election was their last free election.”
Incidentally, the interview appeared in the German press a few days after the German minister in charge of the EU heard a report on the rule of law in Hungary and Poland from Vera Jourová and another relevant EU commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, at a meeting held yesterday in Brussels. Concerns about the issues here remain valid and do not close the rule of law investigation against the two countries. but they want more audiences. Judit Varga complained at the meeting and then, instead of criticizing the Sargentini report, Vera Jourová had tried to read the “crimes” committed since then.
Following the above, the Hungarian Justice Minister said in a Facebook post on Monday:
“Vice President Jourová has insulted Hungary, insulted all Hungarians. Her statement goes against European values and the requirements of loyal cooperation.” Then she said:
Vice President Jourová must resign with immediate effect.
It also reminded me that
The declarations of the European Commission, guardian of the Treaties, Jourová, are incompatible with his position as vice president. That’s why you have to go. I also said this today at the European Forum in Salzburg, which was broadcast live by ORF.
As we wrote in our separate article, the German Presidency just leaked it today. the rule of law proposal, which contains a relatively more favorable voting method for sanctions, for Hungary, It would be true that, even with the construction of a broad alliance, it would not be easy to cancel a suspension of EU funding that would be proposed by the European Commission and decided by the Heads of State and Government.
We also write that the first EU report on the rule of law, originally scheduled for this Wednesday, was postponed by the Commission until next Monday, October 5.
The Commission report also examines how they relate to the EU baselines in 4 areas in each Member State: the judiciary, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism, and checks and balances. In addition, there may be some references to phrases in the material about how national governments applied the special legal order during the spring outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic.
It is worth noting that last week several independent Hungarian state institutions praised the achievements in the field of corruption in Hungary in a joint statement, and in an interview with Reuters on the problems of the rule of law in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the fake news and the criticism -blah-blah ”. And this morning, Judit Varga launched a series of videos on Facebook called Minutes of the State of Law. In the first video, she emphasized the structure of the Hungarian judicial system and its complete independence from politics.
Commission report on the rule of law he is expected to be increasingly critical of the Hungarian situation. This is clear from the recent statement by Mr. Jourová, On the other hand, the fact that since the European Parliament approved the Sargentini report by two thirds in 2018 (which laid the foundations for the launch of the rule of law procedure against Hungary in the EP), most of the problems indicated in it have not changed.
Cover Image Source: Dursun Aydemir / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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