On Sunday, prominent members of the European Parliament reacted to Hungarian Prime Minister (PM) Viktor Orbán’s statements that “Hungary had been given an opportunity to stop the ’Sovietisation’ of the European Union” after he called for a European Parliament with reduced powers that would not restrict the sovereignty of national parliaments.
The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, responded to the PM’s remarks by saying, “Only those who do not like democracy think of dismantling parliaments.”
In a speech to commemorate 30 years of the departure of Soviet troops from Hungary, the populist PM on Saturday said Hungary and other European nations are democracies standing up against “empire-builders.” Dismissing the authority of the parliament and citing their elitist characteristics in his speech, Orbán called for the removal of specific problematic terms from the European Union constitution like the phrase “ever closer to the union.”
PM Orbán, as a populist claiming to be the sole legitimate representative of the people, regularly criticises and targets the EU and European legislators. The European Parliament had initiated Article 7 of the EU Disciplinary Procedure against Hungary in 2018 to demonstrate their disapproval of Orbán’s divisive politics and his government’s efforts to “undermine the independence of the judiciary, restrict freedom of expression and violation of rights of minorities and migrants.”
Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Guy Verhofstadt slammed the PM on Twitter, saying “Viktor Orbán wants to tie the hands of the European Parliament like he already did with the Hungarian one and free media, and courts & NGO’s & academics ... There is a pattern, and it leads to a Putinesque dictatorship.”
At the convention, Orbán said the EU was “scootering towards becoming an imperial power.” “Europe is not improving or transforming on its own, but we need to improve, transform and lead it back on the right, once successful path,” he said.
While the MP’s of the European Parliament called Hungary a “sick democracy”, PM Orban said: “We are the same people we were, the last freedom fighters in Europe to this day.” “The history of Europe has not changed, but we have changed it. Today, the European Union needs “freedom fighters of our kind,” he added.
It is the latest incident where a populist leader has openly gone against a multilateral institution like the EU. Much like Trump, who sought to dismantle NATO, Hungary's Orban accused the European Parliament of infringing the sovereignty of democratically elected national parliaments in Europe.
Hungary PM Orbán Faces Backlash Over Call To Curb Powers of EU Parliament
Hungary PM Victor Orban faced a barrage of criticism from members of the European Parliament when he called for rules that allowed national parliaments to suspend the EU's legislative process.
June 22, 2021
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán | SOURCE: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH