Hungarian laws to hunt down refugees are a reminder of Europe’s dark past - ALDE Group to maintain demand for 7.1 procedure –
Press release from the ALDE group.
Given the dramatically worsening situation of fundamental rights in Hungary, most recently illustrated by the laws which grant the police the right to search for immigrants in people’s homes without authorized permission and allow the army to use force against refugees, the ALDE Group has decided to maintain its demand in the civil liberties committee that the European Parliament starts the article 7.1 procedure, despite opposition from the S&D group.
“The way Hungary treats refugees re-awakens the demons of the past. Hunting down refugees and even allowing the police to shoot at them goes against Europe’s values. It is time that these practices are examined by the Commission. It is our political and moral responsibility to ensure that our common values are upheld at any time” Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE Group leader said.
Civil Liberties coordinator Cecilia Wikstrom expects that all the pro-European forces in the European Parliament will join forces to defend EU values and principles: “I am proud that the liberals keep fighting to convince our colleagues from the other groups in the European Parliament to start an article 7 procedure against Hungary. I am deeply shocked that the S&D group on Monday sided with the EPP in protecting the Hungarian government of Mr Orbán, rather than protecting the Hungarian people and defending the fundamental values on which this union is built. Europe must no longer remain passive while the Hungarian government systematically seriously violates the values, principles and legislation of the EU. Hungary has, as one of the EU’s 28 member states, to respect the rules and agreements of the EU and its international obligations“.
ALDE believes that some of latest developments in Hungary raise serious legal concerns and we regret that political pressures and arrangements have prevailed during the last days over the principles and values of the EU. The agreement between the two main groups of the House simply leads to more impunity for those breaching these values, and undermines the whole European project.
Article 7 should be triggered, the liberal grouping says, to verify whether the following legislative measures adopted by the Hungarian Parliament comply with EU values and principles:
• Legislative changes to the asylum and criminal law which could entail the imprisonment and expulsion of those crossing the Hungarian border irregularly
• The articles of the Police law which grants the police the right to search the premises of private-owned homes without authorized permission to seek for immigrants.
• The articles of the police law allowing the army to use non-lethal force against refugees, which includes the use of rubber bullets, pyrotechnical devices, tear gas grenades and net guns
• The xenophobic questionnaire on migration sent by the Hungarian government
• The serious and persistent threats to freedom of press
• The serious and persistent threats to democracy, fundamental rights and rule of law
Sophie In’ t Veld, ALDE first vice-president, added: ” It is not about pointing our finger to one country, it is more than that. We do not tolerate that Volkswagen commits fraud with the European environmental rules, and we also do not tolerate that human rights and the rule of law are breached”.
“The treaty gives us a procedure to get a country on the right track again, there isn’t another way. On the initiative of the liberals the Parliament is working on a yearly fundamental rights check, Europe needs more instruments to guide countries in the right direction. Activating Article 7 is justified, because of the systematic violations of fundamental rights. Not just the latest anti-migrant measures, but also against free media, Roma people, freedom of education, and much more.”
Louis Michel, member of the LIBE committee, added: “I am stunned that a group such as the S&D, which has, like us, systematically denounced the situation in Hungary, refuses today to draft an official report on this urgent matter. The criminalisation of refugees, the hunt of migrants, the permission granted to the army to shoot people in distress, these are already too many violations. Mr Orban has to be held accountable for all these actions which the Parliament has never ceased to denounce during the last years. Refusing to launch the first phase of the Article 7, would limit this house to an Assembly that protests, condemns but that doesn’t act.”
Note to editors
ALDE regrets the outcome of the coordinators of the civil liberties committee meeting that took place yesterday in Strasbourg, where EPP and S&D voted against the ALDE request to activate article 7 of the treaty against Hungary. S&D and EPP blocked the possibility of examining whether the situation of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, and in particular, the latest measures adopted by the Hungarian parliament in the field of asylum and migration, and the worrying situation of freedom of the press and human rights in Hungary could entail “a clear risk of a serious breach by a Member State of the values” of the EU.
