EU rapporteur: Hungarian secret services have been leaking to the Russians for years – UPDATED
Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield is a French MEP sitting in the European Parliament’s Green group and also a rapporteur of the EP on Hungarian issues. Delbos-Corfield said that the Hungarian secret services leaked deliberatly some data to the Russians but shared no additional details. The EU rapporteur thinks Hungary poses a threat to the European Union because the Russians influence the country’s government significantly.
The MEP took part in a discussion in Brussels, where she talked about those issues together with, among others, Gergely Karácsony, Budapest’s mayor. Delbos-Corfield said that Hungary was troublesome not only because of the corruption or the rule of law but also because the Hungarian secret services and some government institutions leak to the Russians, which is a security threat, euronews.com wrote.
“I do not understand why no member states react in the European Council”, she added.
She highlighted that there were articles published daily emphasizing the threat of Russia on the region. But nobody mentions that they have an ally, Hungary. She added that the Hungarian government parties won the previous general elections because of manipulation and fake news.
She said the EU was late to react on that in the case of Hungary. But it is important to stop the spread of the process. She suggested that the situation is the same in Poland, where democratic elections were only a camouflage, just like in Hungary. She recalled that the European Parliament accepted a resolution last year saying that Hungary had no longer a real democracy but a hybrid regime.
Read alsoEU rapporteur: Hungarian secret services have been leaking to the Russians for years – UPDATED
UPDATE – Rule of law must be protected across all sectors
Democracy, the rule of law, equality and fundamental rights form the foundation of the European Union, and they must be protected across all sectors ranging from government to civil society, the EU justice commissioner told the conference organised by the Brussels and Budapest city councils on which Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield took part. The abandonment of the rule of law, which constitutes the legal foundations of the bloc and its member states, would mean the end of the European Union, Didier Reynders told the Cities for the Rule of Law conference in Brussels.
Guaranteeing the rule of law and justice along common values is the basis of trust among member states, the commissioner said. The principle of the rule of law is non-negotiable and must not be allowed to fall victim to political compromise, he added. Reynders noted that the European Commission had the means to protect the rule of law, such as its annual rule-of-law report in which the body offers recommendations with a view to encouraging member states. The report is also a tool used to address general problems and stop the deterioration of the rule of law, he said.
Mayor of Budapest: rule of law was “a matter of life and death”
The report forms the basis of dialogue on the state of the rule of law with the individual member states and on improving the situation with the participation of local councils and civil society, Reynders said. The EC plans to publish this year’s rule-of-law report in July, he said. Dialogue always comes first, although it is not always enough, the commissioner said. A firm approach is needed, he said, insisting that the rule of law was under attack. Reynders said the EC was prepared to use all the tools at its disposal to protect the rule of law. These, he noted, include the mechanism in the EU budget linking funding to the rule of law, which in Hungary’s case led to the suspension of cohesion funding for the country.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said the state of the rule of law was “a matter of life and death”. He said Hungary was “very far” from meeting the requirements EU candidate countries were expected to meet. Karácsony said the tools established to protect the rule of law were “weak” and were being applied too slowly. He insisted this was a factor that had contributed to the emergence of a “hybrid regime” within the EU.
He said Budapest and most European cities were better at meeting the requirements for democracy and the rule of law than central governments. Capital cities can be considered “islands of the rule of law” in countries where the rule of law and democracy are lacking, he added. But cities are under attack by means that include EU funding being withheld from them, Karacsony said. He said European capitals needed to cooperate on the distribution of EU funds at the local level.
Source: euronews.com