Speaking at Thursday’s session of the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó called the draft of the special report on Hungary a “collection of compounded lies” and declared that during its preparation “the facts and reality were totally disregarded”.

In his speech the Minister spoke, amongst others, about press freedom and the state of non-governmental organisations, with regard to which he said the draft contains lies. “In Hungary, the press is much more diverse that in many Western European member states, and only a few of the 65 thousand non-governmental organisations operating in the country are ‘complaining’: those which receive an extremely high level of funding from abroad, have openly become political players and which want to influence the decision of the Hungarian electorate”, he stated.

“You here in the European Parliament, and these NGOs with whom you are in close alliance, are always demanding transparency. Why then are you objecting and why are you ashamed of who provides your resources; why are you afraid to admit where your financing comes from?”, Mr. Szijjártó asked, adding: “If you are ashamed of it, it is not the fault of the law”.

The Minister strongly rejected and took exception to the criticism included in the draft report, according to which anti-Semitism is a recurring problem in Hungary. “It isn’t in Budapest that young Jews are attacked in the street, it isn’t here that old Jewish people are attacked in their own homes”, he emphasised.

The Minister underlined the fact that despite external attempts to influence the result of the election, the governing parties won an overwhelming victory in early April, which clearly indicates that the people have come to a different conclusion with regard to Hungary’s last eight years than the members of the LIBE Committee. Accordingly, he called on the Committee to “respect the democratic decision of the Hungarian people and to refrain from questioning and judging Hungarian public will”.

Mr. Szijjártó said the “ruthless” dispute on migration between Hungary and the LIBE Committee will probably continue in view of the fact that the Government will not accept the mandatory EU quotas and will keep Hungary a Hungarian country. The reason for the criticism is that the country is standing in the way of plans that are “pro-immigration in the extreme”, but in accordance with the will of the Hungarian people the Government will not allow the implementation of the Soros Plan, he said.

In closing, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that every Member of the European Parliament had been sent a detailed rebuttal of the claims made in the draft report, and Fidesz MEPs Kinga Gál and Jószef Szájer will be submitting amendment proposals to correct the “lies”.

According to the draft report put forward by Green Party rapporteur Judith Sargentini, there is a clear risk of the gross violation of EU values in Hungary, and accordingly the launching of Article 7 proceedings is justified.

(MTI)