European Parliament members (MEPs) have voted in favour of a motion of censure against Hungary and its premier Viktor Orbán for the country’s behaviour toward asylum seekers and minority groups – including Jewish and Roma people.
The motion passed by 448 votes to 197 with 48 abstentions. To be adopted, the proposal required an absolute majority of members (376) and two thirds of the votes cast – excluding the abstentions – so it passed comfortably.
Orbán swept into power on an overtly xenophobic platform and since he came to office Hungary has been accused of not doing enough to stop – and in some cases actively supporting – discrimination against Jews, Roma and Muslims.
The motion to trigger the ‘Article 7’ provisions of the EU treaty also accused Hungary of posing a “systemic threat” to the EU’s “fundamental principles” because of entrenched sexism, corruption, abuse of migrants and concerns over its electoral system, its treatment of the press and its constitution. The vote could ultimately lead to Hungary losing its EU voting rights.
The EU’s official press release about the vote says,
Parliament’s key concerns relate to […] the rights of persons belonging to minorities, including Roma and Jews.
However, Conservative MEPs voted against the censure. In a statement published yesterday on the ‘ConservativeEurope‘ website, the Tory group in the European Parliament explained its reasoning:
Conservative MEPs will vote against the move tomorrow, arguing it interferes in the sovereignty of a member state and goes far beyond the remit of the European Parliament.
So it appears that the Tories think states have a ‘sovereign’ right to be racist. And sexist. And corrupt.
Orbán has called the EU report “The Soros report”, after Jewish businessman George Soros, thereby indulging in an antisemitic smear even about the report accusing him of antisemitism. His behaviour and comments toward Soros and to Jews in general have been described as a ‘war’ them.
Bizarrely, Israel has sided with Orban, with Benjamin Netanyahu calling him a “true friend of Israel“.
SKWAWKBOX comment:
The mainstream media has shamelessly promoted the smear that Jeremy Corbyn represents a threat to the UK’s Jewish population, even though data show that fewer Jewish citizens are considering leaving the country under Corbyn than they were when his Jewish predecessor Ed Miliband was Labour leader.
But the fact that Tories think states have a ‘sovereign’ right to be racist should worry all of us.
Especially in light of their claims that the key driver for their push for Britain to leave the European Union was to restore the UK’s ‘sovereignty’ and the fact that, post-Brexit, the UK government will no longer be subject to similar censure if the racist right continues to grow here.
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Just goes to show what a load of grandstanding cobblers the whole antisemitism campaign has been.
The EU likes to play the innocent.
Not too long ago the EU was turning a blind eye to Spanish police brutality in Catalonia.
Conservatives have no moral compass, they are Islamophobic and as proved by this article antisemitic. But not to worry Netanyahu thinks you’re the right sort of antisemitic.
3.33pm Just for your information, there’s a live debate about the ‘Salisbury Incident’ going on at the moment on the Parliament Channel.
Just more scaremongering and demonisation of Vladimir Putin and ‘Russia’.
Allan, I missed that debate but today I happened to see a timeline on the BBC news channel built from train times and cctv footage which appears to confirm that the two accused men travelled from Russia to UK and that they then travelled from London to Salisbury on two successive days – spending little more than an hour in Salisbury each day “sightseeing” before returning to London and back to Russia.
I wouldn’t claim it as conclusive proof of their guilt – or even as genuine rather than contrived evidence – but to my mind it does shift the balance of probability in that direction.
If the two “sports nutrition businessmen” had, say, taken time out from a business trip and were able to point to appointments kept that could have been believable – but they didn’t claim any such thing.
What tourist here specifically to visit Salisbury and its Russia-renowned cathedral stays in expensive London, takes a late-morning train and returns after an hour or two… two days running?
The fact that Tories are proven liars, cheats and thieves who manipulate the MSM and the electorate abominably doesn’t mean that nothing they say can ever be true.
Accusing them when exculpatory evidence exists lets them make us out to be the purveyors of fake news and themselves the defenders of truth.
Looks like a false flag/staged chemical weapons attack is just on the verge of happening in Syria, as the Russian MOD have been predicting for weeks. Check out RT.
Given what the US has said would happen if Assad used CW “again”, the last thing on Earth he’s going to do is precisely THAT, even if he/Syria HAD chemical weapons, which they DON’T.
https://www.rt.com/news/438282-white-helmets-film-chemical-attacks/
And check out the comments (further down the page)
And where are the howls of protests from those attacking us?
Mmnn If it had have been Labour MEPs….
It’s time to turn the spotlight on the Tories!
Not as worrying as the way in which the Chequers Deal surrenders to EU law on banning the extension of public ownership and restricting State aids to industry – and the inevitability that Keir Starmer and the Blairites want to follow suit in some bespoke deal of their own.
A trap for the Corbyn government.
Wake up comrades!!
EU Article 106 I presume.
Here’s the nub of the issue. More debate on this please.
The dog in me is awake.
K94JC
Viktor Orban builds walls to protect Christianity; QED he is a racist; Israel builds walls……..