US Rep Calls Out European Leader's Coronavirus 'Power Grab': 'A Serious Affront to Democracy'
Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of using the coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to engage in a “blatant power grab” in order to rule “like a dictator.”
Multiple European Union leaders have also spoken out forcefully against the new powers granted to Orban, who has been PM since 2010.
The Washington Post reported the Hungarian parliament voted to give Orban “the power to govern unchallenged for as long as he sees fit, a move rights groups said effectively suspends democracy in the European Union member state in the name of fighting the novel coronavirus.”
The “coronavirus bill,” passed 137 to 53, places Hungary in a state of emergency indefinitely.
“The law also punishes those who ‘distort’ or publish ‘false’ information on the outbreak with five years in jail,” according to The Post.
Engel said in a Monday statement, “Prime Minister Orban is making a blatant power grab in the face of the worst global health crisis in recent history. This legislation marginalizes the Hungarian parliament and allows Prime Minister Orban to rule by decree like a dictator.”
The congressman also highlighted that the coronavirus bill has “no sunset clause or end date for when these powers would be terminated; that decision would be made solely by the Prime Minister.”
“The legislation solidifies his position as the incontestable ruler of a non-democratic Hungary,” Engel said. “Such a serious affront to democracy anywhere is outrageous, and particularly within a NATO ally and EU member.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission (the executive branch of the EU), issued a statement on Tuesday calling for all emergency measures to be “limited to what is necessary and strictly proportionate” and to not last indefinitely, The Guardian reported.
“It is of utmost importance that emergency measures are not at the expense of our fundamental principles and values as set out in the treaties,” von der Leyen added, without naming Hungary specifically.
Sophie in’t Veld, a Dutch liberal member of EU’s parliament, who chairs the rule of law group in the body, was more direct.
“Viktor Orban has completed his project of killing democracy and the rule of law in Hungary,” she said, according to The Guardian. “Clearly, the actions of the Hungarian government are incompatible with EU membership.”
Didier Reynders, the EU commissioner for justice, also expressed concern about the new powers given to Orban.
The commission “evaluates the emergency measures taken by Member States with regard to fundamental rights,” Reynders tweeted.
?? @EU_Commission evaluates the emergency measures taken by Member States with regard to fundamental rights. This is particularly the case for the law passed today in #Hungary concerning the state of emergency and new criminal penalties for the dissemination of false information.
— didier reynders (@dreynders) March 30, 2020
“This is particularly the case for the law passed today in [Hungary] concerning the state of emergency and new criminal penalties for the dissemination of false information,” he added.
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called on the EU to respond and even expel Hungary from the EU if necessary.
“I have been dreaming of a ‘United States of Europe’ for years,” he wrote on Twitter.
I have been dreaming of a “United States of Europe” for years. Precisely for this reason, I have the right, and the duty, to say that after what Orban has done today, the European Union MUST act and make him change his mind. Or, simply, expel Hungary from the Union
— Matteo Renzi (@matteorenzi) March 30, 2020
“Precisely for this reason, I have the right, and the duty, to say that after what Orban has done today, the European Union MUST act and make him change his mind. Or, simply, expel Hungary from the Union.”
The Guardian reported that Orban’s spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs, responding specifically to von der Leyen’s statement, said that the legislation passed by Hungary’s parliament was “congruent with the treaties and the Hungarian constitution and targeted exclusively at fighting the coronavirus.”
Kovács further said the law was consistent with EU values, the rule of law and freedom of the press.
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