EU Parliament condemns Hungary and Poland for undemocratic decisions

The European Parliament strongly condemned recent political decisions taken by the Polish and Hungarian Government during the current pandemic, which have been described as “totally incompatible with European values”.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban rushed through the country’s Parliament the right to rule by decree for an indefinite time to fight the pandemic, while Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has announced that it will go ahead with a Presidential election in May.

While the former has weakened oversight of Government, MEPs intervening during the debate said that Poland’s decision to hold an election at this time undermined the concept of a free vote.

MEPs asked the Commission to investigate whether Hungary and Poland had breached EU law. In their Resolution, signed by all four major political groups of the European Parliament, MEPs insisted that responses must be “in line with the rule of law,” proportionate, “clearly related” to the health crisis and “limited in time.”

European Parliament president David Sassoli said that “We want to exit this crisis through democracy  we want to make a success living by our rules and our treaties. We must not overturn the rules and values that govern our co-existence.”

The resolution, voted via teleconferencing, was approved with 395 in favour and 171 against.

Read more via Euractiv.com