With the European Union challenged by war on its eastern flank, and a looming crisis on the economic front, our opponents in the left-liberal circles of the European Parliament still somehow manage to find the time – and money – to pursue their politically driven, anti-Hungary agenda. What began as the Tavares Report in 2013, and later turned into the (undemocratically adopted) Sargentini Report in 2018, now seems to have a new name.
French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, the liberal thought-bubble’s current lieutenant in the EP, rose to notoriety by stating during a visit to Hungary last year that the 2022 parliamentary elections can’t possibly be free and fair. Interestingly, the many election observation missions present in Hungary on election day came to a very different conclusion. Submitted a couple of days ago to the EP’s LIBE committee, the Delbos-Corfield Report is a worthy successor to the one drafted by Judith Sargentini, in that it fails to legally back up its ideological accusations and furthers the decade-long rule of law harassment of Hungary.
What’s even more exciting is the dream team of Orbanophobes recently assembled by German Green MEP Daniel Freund to pen a report that goes on to argue over 30, long pages why it’s absolutely acceptable from a legal point of view to withdraw all EU funds from Hungary. The members of the team need no introduction: Kim Lane Scheppele, R. Daniel Kelemen and John Morijn.
Trust me, I tried hard, but I wouldn’t be able to name three more biased “Hungary experts” myself. And their arguments? They’re laughable. Hungary is owed what is due, it’s as simple as that.
From the above examples it’s clear that the Hungarian government no longer has a quarrel with the European Commission, but the European Parliament’s unhinged, left-liberal majority. Even though we’ve had our ups and downs with the EC for more than a decade now, we could always engage in meaningful dialogue and resolve our conflicts one way or the other.
The same, however, cannot be said about the politically motivated attacks launched from the EP.
In fact, in the last few days, we have made considerable progress with the Commission, agreeing to the EC’s proposal on four points:
- Hungary undertakes to keep the proportion of public procurement tenders with only one applicant below 15 percent.
- For corruption-related cases, Hungarian courts will be able to decide on further steps even after the Prosecutor’s Office has closed the case.
- Hungary must devote a portion of EU funds to achieving energy independence.
- Hungary must devote all EU funds received as loans to achieving energy independence.
This latest bullying from the liberal mob in Parliament is simply political malice and serves only their own fringe, political agenda. We’re working in good faith with the Commission to resolve this so that Hungary can finally receive the funds it is due from the Recovery and Resilience Facility,