Minister of State for EU Relations Judit Varga from the Prime Minister’s Office has again held bilateral talks in Brussels with relation to the so-called Sargentini report, in addition to which she also attended Wednesday’s meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (EP LIBE), at which Members of the European Parliament debated the amendment proposals submitted with relation to the draft report prepared by the Dutch Green Party MEP.

During the Minister of State’s bilateral meetings it once again became apparent that the majority of People’s Party and conservative MEPs agree with the Hungarian Government with relation to the fact that the Sargentini report is attacking Hungary for political reasons, without true legal arguments and for the most part with regard to cases that have already been closed. According to the MEPs, in contrast to the findings of the Sargentini report, EU fundamental values are not in danger in Hungary and accordingly the launching of Article 7 proceedings is in no way justified.

Mr. Varga declared that at today’s meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (EP LIBE) it again transpired that European left-wing MEPs don’t care about the facts relating to Hungary. At the session of the Committee, the same old accusations were put forward that have been repeated for years and which lack all legal and political foundations, and which on the one hand are based on issues that have long been closed, and on the other hand do not even belong within the sphere of competence of the European Union. The Minister of State pointed out that during the course of the procedure, which the European Parliament launched last May, the Hungarian Government has provided MEPs with all of the required information and fact-based arguments that would have enabled the preparation of a legally well-founded and balanced report instead of a political indictment. The Minister of State said it was unacceptable that within the framework of a procedure that has been going on for a year the government of the affected member state should only be afforded a total of two times fifteen minutes to put forward its arguments against the political charges before a public session of the Committee

The seriousness of the European Parliament’s procedure is also called into question by the fact that no reply has been received from the European Parliament with relation to the official documents provided to the rapporteur and the Committee by the Hungarian Government, which included detailed legal arguments. Ms. Varga said it was astonishing that Judith Sargentini wants to put Hungary in the dock for the umpteenth time based on newspaper articles and the totally unfounded accusations of a few chosen NGOs.

The LIBE Committee will vote on the Dutch Green Party MEP’s report on 25 June.

(Prime Minister’s Office)