The European Commission will not take measures against the Hungarian government over its emergency coronavirus legislation, despite lurid allegations that Hungary had become a “dictatorship” overnight by opponents of Viktor Orban’s government.
Legal experts within the European Commission have conceded that there is no basis for a case against the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for, as had been claimed by some, violations of the rights of the Hungarian people.
Reviewing the findings of their investigation, the Commission also acknowledged that other countries in the European Union, such as France, have enacted strict lockdown measures that restrict various rights to protect public health.
Hungary’s Ambassador to the Vatican, Eduard Habsburg, reacted to the Commission announcement with tongue in-cheek sarcasm, saying: “But, but …all the media have told us for WEEKS that Hungary is basically a dictatorship… all this is VERY confusing…”
The Ambassador’s comments followed others in early April by a senior Hungarian Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Tamas Deutsch, who made the point — now accepted by the EU — that nations across the continent had enacted extraordinary laws to defeat the coronavirus.
While this was accepted as necessary in other EU member states, only Hungary was singled out for criticism for taking steps taken elsewhere but left unremarked.
Previously, several prominent globalist media figures and politicians had criticised Hungary for its emergency legislation, with members of the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament, of which Orbán’s Fidesz is a member, calling for their Hungarian colleagues to be expelled.
“The fight against Covid-19 requires extensive measures, however, the virus cannot be used as a pretext to extend the state of emergency indefinitely. We fear that Prime Minister Orbán will use his newly achieved power to further extend the government’s grip on civil society,” a letter addressed to EPP president Donald Tusk said in early April.
Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice went even further. Rice, who served during the administration of former president Barack Obama, called on Brussels to expel Hungary from the European Union altogether.
On Wednesday, Hungarian Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations Zoltán Kovács released a statement saying that lockdown measures could soon begin to be lifted and that the country was now in a “balanced situation”.