Hungary's government spokesperson has said that the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) hearing on Hungary is a cross between a "ruthless witch-hunt" and a "show trial familiar from communist times”.
Government Spokesperson Zoltan Kovács declared that Hungary has nothing to be ashamed about with relation to EU procedures and cooperation.
“At the end of previous proceedings, or when interim conclusions have been published during the course of proceedings, it has regularly proven to be the case that Hungary has fully conformed to the conditions set down within the European framework in every respect. True criticism, institutional criticism based on the rule of law, is not being directed towards Hungary, only political criticism," the government spokesperson said.
Kovács highlighted that it raises major concerns if European Union or similar proceedings are launched against member states purely as a result of differences in political opinion.
“These legal proceedings have taught us that there are disputes with relation to which it is worth going all the way up to the final court level, because it has transpired on several occasions that the EU institution that launched such politically motivated proceedings applied double standards," Kovács said.
Kovács reiterated that Hungary does not accept the fact that European institutions want to determine the number of refugees that countries must accept on a mandatory basis. “This must remain within a national sphere of competence," he said.
The spokesperson also commented on proposals put forward by Estonia concerning the reform of common refugee regulations. The proposal suggests that the Dublin system would not include permanent resettlement quotas of a mandatory nature in future.
“The Estonian proposal indicates that neither Hungary nor the countries of the Visegrád Group are alone in Europe with relation to their opinion on illegal migration and their ideas for a solution," the spokesperson pointed out.
“It is not only true of Hungary and the Visegrád Group (V4) that they are capable of common thinking, and seeing things and making decisions based on common sense," he said. “The proposals confirm that some things should not be forced, because not only do they overturn the consensus, but they also represent an extreme danger to Europe."