It will also be an electoral campaign move to silence the voices that see it as too and dangerously close to the nationalists. In fact, a few days before the European elections, Ursula von der Leyen distances herself from Viktor Orbán, giving a mandate to her team to verify whether the conditions exist to prevent Hungary from assuming, as expected, the six-month presidency of the ‘Union starting from July. The president of the Palazzo Berlaymont body, running for a second mandate, takes a position in a letter that Huffpost viewed in response to the letter from the European Movement led by Pier Virgilio Dastoli. Precisely, von der Leyen entrusts the case to Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, socialist family, executive vice-president of the Commission and responsible for inter-institutional relations, as well as the Green deal.
“We are convinced that the Hungarian government, which has defined itself as an ‘illiberal democracy’, must not preside over the intergovernmental structures of the European Union”, we read in the appeal that the European Movement of Italy, France and Spain addressed to von der Leyen and also to the President of the European Council Charles Michel, to the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union Koen Lenaerts, to the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, to the Foreign Minister of Belgium, Hadja Lahbib, to the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and to group leaders in the European Parliament.
“Hungary – continues the appeal – has not only been under surveillance procedure for years (art.7.1 of the Treaty) at the initiative of the European Parliament due to the existence of a clear risk of serious violation of common values, but is equally subject of the budgetary conditionality procedure aimed at protecting respect for fundamental EU rights and values”. The rest recalls the resolution approved last 24 April and by a large majority by the European Parliament, which underlines the “concern about the fact that the Hungarian government will not be able to credibly fulfill” the task of presiding over the European Council, ” in view of its failure to comply with European Union law, the values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty and the principle of sincere cooperation”. There are also all the doubts connected to Orban’s ability and willingness to follow up on the decisions already taken by the European Parliament on the reforms to be made to revise the Treaty of Lisbon, an issue that will land on the table of the next rotating presidency having not come into focus either during the current semester under Belgian leadership, nor in the previous one under Spanish leadership.
“We have carefully noted the content of your letter and have shared it with the competent members of the College and the services of the European Commission – we read in von der Leyen’s response to Pier Virgilio Dastoli, president of the European Movement Italy – In particular , your letter has been forwarded to the Executive Vice President responsible for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations, Maroš Šefčovič, who with his team is examining the points contained in your letter and will respond as soon as possible”.
The initiative may seem unrealistic and destined to fall on deaf ears or only good for an electoral campaign. But von der Leyen’s interest still frames what could be the EU of the next legislature: besieged by nationalists, who could strengthen their presence in the European Parliament after Sunday’s vote, and moreover led by Orbán in the first six months . It seems like a perfect alignment of the planets to overshadow any desire to strengthen integration between EU member states and the discontent of some member states is gathering around this prospect. Belgium, the current rotating presidency, was the first to raise the issue.
“We have a Europe that is making difficult progress, with unfortunately some states – one state in particular – increasingly adopting a transactional, blocking and veto attitude,” are the words of Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib in an interview at politica.eu. The reference is to the Hungarian veto which is blocking the disbursement of military aid from the European Peace Facility for Ukraine, for a total of around 9 billion euros. In a rather extraordinary and unprecedented move, Belgium, rotating president of the EU until the end of June, is therefore asking other European governments to consider carrying forward the procedure provided for in Article 7 of the Treaty to deprive Hungary of the right to vote. For now, only Austria supports the Belgian initiative. To get to the bottom of article 7, unanimity is needed. “We expect all 27 members to fully support the principles on which our common Union is based,” a spokesperson for the Austrian Foreign Ministry tells poliico.eu. “This is particularly true for the next EU presidency. With this in mind, we support the rigorous continuation of the Article 7 procedure against Hungary.”
For now, on the part of Brussels, the response of von der Leyen who passes the ball to Šefčovič is on record. Certainly, there is the political and instrumental sense of an electoral campaign move but also that of alarm for the Europe of the future.
Viktor Orbán: “Ilaria Salis should stop playing the victim”
by Huffpost
