Some Covid Dictatorships Are More Equal Than Others
EU condemns Covid dictatorship in conservative Poland and Hungary, everyone else carry on
The European Parliament passed a resolution on Friday (17 April) describing the recent Hungarian and Polish government actions during the coronavirus outbreak as “totally incompatible with European values.”
Lawmakers called on the Commission to determine whether Hungary and Poland breached EU law, and urged the Council to put Article 7 procedures back on the agenda. Sanctions under Article 7 of the EU treaty could result is a suspension of voting rights.
In three paragraphs of the joint resolution on EU response to the pandemic and its consequences, signed by the presidents of all four big political groups of the European Parliament, MEPs echoed the stance of the European Commission that responses must be “in line with the rule of law,” proportionate, “clearly related” to the health crisis and “limited in time.”
“We want to exit this crisis through democracy , we want to make a success living by our rules and our treaties,” Parliament president David Sassoli told journalists. “We must not overturn the rules and values that govern our co-existence.
In response to EURACTIV’s question if the Parliament has exhausted all the tools in its toolbox regarding the issue, Sassoli said the institution “acted quickly and in a timely fashion,” pointing out that “this is a question that concerns others.”
“From our side, what we want is to see the clear conviction established, we have to stick to our believes, our values and agreements,” he added.
In the resolution that passed with 395 in favour and 171 against, lawmakers criticised the Hungarian steps “to prolong the state of emergency indefinitely, [and] to authorise the Government to rule by decree without time limit, and to weaken the emergency oversight of the Parliament.”
The European Parliament also condemned “the attack on transgender and intersex people’s rights in Hungary,” referring to a draft law that would bar citizens from legally changing their gender.
MEPs also blasted Poland’s conservative PiS government for its decision “to hold Presidential elections in the middle of a pandemic, which may endanger the lives of Polish citizens and undermine the concept of free, equal, direct and secret elections.”
The resolution denounced “the attempts to further criminalise abortion care, stigmatise HIV positive people, and undermine young people’s access to sexuality education in Poland.”
The Polish parliament sent the abortion bill that would tighten already restrictive abortion rules back to a committee on Thursday (16 April).
Parliamentarians called on the European executive to use “all available EU tools and sanctions” to tackle what they describe a “serious and persistent breach,” echoing the language of Article 7.
MEPs also urged “the Council to put back on its agenda the discussions and procedures related to the ongoing Article 7 procedures.”
In January, the Parliament demanded the EU set out concrete demands and deadlines for Poland and Hungary over their rule of law and judicial independence situation
Source: Euractiv
“We want to exit this crisis through democracy…”
Did they have a democratic vote to determine if the People wanted to be locked down and lose their jobs?
The EU Gulag is a clown group of liberal idiots who were never elected. F..k them all!
Hungary and Poland deserve whatever they get. They joined the EU knowing it was a Mafia organisation. Now they have to obey the rules of the Mafia organisation that they joined of their own free will or pay the price. Have they, now that they find themselves compelled to follow the diktats of the Capo, made any attempt to leave the gang? No? Therefore I don’t see the slightest reason to have any sympathy for them. Let the EU do whatever it wants to them and good luck to it. Between them and the EU I would support the EU.
the EU serves US interests—-the coca-colonization of Europe…why should Poland and Hungary permit Germany and France to dictate?
Because they joined the EU of their own free will out of greed, despite knowing it is a Mafia organisation with Germany as Capo and France as the underboss. That is why they not only should, but will, allow then to dictate, and why they deserve no mercy or sympathy.