The European Parliament has rejected a call for public debate on Hungary on Monday by liberals, as the group called for a plenary debate on Hungary at its session in Strasbourg. Dutch Member of Parliament for the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Sophie in’t Veld, had proposed the plenary debate on the state of democracy, rule of law and the fundamental rights in Hungary for Wednesday afternoon.
She cited recent remarks by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and actions taken by the police against NGOs as concerns. Esteban Gonzales Pons, a Portuguese MEP for the European People’s Party, said, however, that his party’s group had rejected the proposal since there was no reason to hold a debate in the assembly rather than in the EP’s human rights committee.
The Hungarian Police have raided the Budapest headquarters of Ökotárs last week, a foundation responsible for coordinating the distribution of EEA/Norway Grants, under suspicion of embezzlement and unauthorized financial activities. Several European Parliament MEPs also cited Orbán’s controversial Tusnád speech as something to be debated.
via HungaryMatters, photo public domain