The coronavirus epidemic has compelled the European Union and its Member States to face unprecedented challenges. The usual solutions and conventional approaches have evidently proved to be inadequate, the Justice Minister stressed talking to the Hungarian news agency MTI on Thursday.

Judit Varga said every Member State has introduced a number of extraordinary measures. She highlighted that “we fully agree” with the statement released by thirteen Member States on Wednesday, highlighting that also during this period laden with challenges we must maintain the values of freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights. She added that “we deeply regret that the statement was not open for all Member States to join”. “These values which the European Union rests upon are common values. We should not use them to incite differences, especially not at a time when the European Union needs unity and solidarity more than ever,” the Justice Minister stated. Ms. Varga also underlined that Hungary has always urged the mutual assessment of the European Union’s core values resting on objective criteria and the principle of equal treatment, in a way which equally extends to all Member States. “This assessment can also extend to a comparative evaluation of different approaches adopted by Member States in relation to extraordinary measures once the hardest days of the crisis are over,” the Minister said.

(MTI)