Hungary proposed at the General Affairs Council on Tuesday that the Council should discuss the European Commission’s rule of law report in public, but only Poland supported the idea.

Justice Minister Judit Varga, who represented Hungary at the meeting, informed in a Facebook post about the remarks she made. According to Varga, the report should not serve as a basis for rule of law debates.

“Commission does not explain why it has selected or omitted certain topics, such as the case of a Slovak citizen who had been the victim of police brutality in Belgium under unclear circumstances,” she reminded.

“Our comments were ignored by the Commission. However, it often refers to certain NGOs – in the case of Hungary, to 12 NGOs. Of these, 11 have recently received financial support from the Open Society Foundation. The report was, in fact, drafted by these NGOs,” Varga stressed.

The minister wrote that “the report hardly strengthens mutual trust. At the very least, however, it made it clear that the issue of the rule of law serves as a tool for exerting political pressure by certain actors”.

Source: Hungary Journal
Photo: Facebook