In a post on Facebook, Szijjarto wrote: “There’s nothing surprising about the recent attack by the failed Italian left-wing prime minister, the German Socialist who are forever the little brother in the grand coalition, the never-elected Austrian Greens or the Luxembourg communists, or indeed the extremely intolerant northern liberals.”
Szijjarto said such attacks were born of “frustration and envy” because “they can only dream of the kind of social support that the Hungarian government has won by a two-thirds majority in the last three parliamentary elections.”
Politicians in several European countries have requested sanctions against Hungary for its pandemic emergency law. “We cannot accept the fact that there is a dictatorial government within the EU,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn (Socialist Workers’ Party) told German daily Die Welt. Hungary must be placed under “a strict political quarantine”. He also demanded that the Hungarian government no longer have a place at the table of the European institutions.
The Luxembourg chief diplomat added: A government that is no longer controlled indefinitely by any parliament should “not have a say in decisions in the individual Councils of Ministers that ultimately affect all people in Europe”.
The Hungarian Parliament has approved a law that will allow Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Fidesz) to rule largely by decree. Orban can thus extend the state of emergency declared on March 11 due to the Corona crisis without parliamentary approval.
EU Parliament President David Sassoli (Partito Democratico) criticized Orban in a statement to the AFP news agency: “Nobody should use this pandemic to undermine our freedoms.”
German MEP Dennis Radtke (CDU) called for the final exclusion of the Fidesz party from the European People’s Party (EPP). When it comes to democracy and the rule of law, there should be “no discount for party friends”. The EPP suspended Fidesz’s membership in the EPP about a year ago. So far, however, there has been no final decision.
Austria’s Vice Chancellor described Hungary as a “semi-dictatorship”. Werner Kogler (Greens) demanded that the EU should no longer send money to Hungary. The developments there are “unacceptable”. Such a “semi-dictatorship receiving Union funds from other democratic states” was out of the question.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) called on the member states to be proportionate. “The European Commission will closely monitor the application of emergency measures in all Member States in a spirit of cooperation,” announced von der Leyen.
She called for compliance with press and freedom of expression. “Now it is more important than ever that journalists can do their work freely and precisely.”