MORE than one hundred members of the European Union (EU) parliament in Strasbourg, France have signed a petition to strip Hungary of its voting rights in the EU.
Petri Sarvamaa, a Finnish Member of the European Parliament (MEP), launched the said petition this January.
The letter calls for the bloc to take another step in a procedure called, the “Article 7”, which allows the bloc to suspend a member persistently breaching EU’s values like human rights, democracy, equality, and the rule of law.
A qualified majority can suspend a member’s rights, including the vote in the EU Council, if one third of the EU commission members and two-thirds majority in the parliament agree with it.
Sarvamaa said he has so far garnered 120 signatures.
Meanwhile, Sarvamaa accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of holding the European Union hostage over aid to Ukraine.
He also insisted that stripping Orban of his rights was the only way to protect EU’s values, and a way to send a message to all EU member states that the bloc will not tolerate and backsliding on their rule of law or disrupting the principle of sincere cooperation.
According to the Finnish MEP, the move would ensure the functioning of the decision-making processes in the bloc.
“It would also be sending a message to all member states that the EU will not tolerate any backsliding on the rule of law or disrupting the principle of sincere cooperation. Our main task is to protect the European way of life and democracy,” according to Petri Sarvamaa, Finnish MEP in European Parliament.
And while the text of the actual resolution launched against Hungary’s Orban is still being negotiated, Sarvamaa said it was very possible that Article 7.2 will be included in some form.
It can be noted that the said provision has never been invoked in the entire history of the EU.
Orbank is known for his vocal criticism of EU’s Ukraine policy.
He insists that Europe should work for peace rather than backing Ukraine in its fight against Moscow.
The Hungarian prime minister has refused to send military weapons to Ukraine, and has recently blocked a 50-B euro’s or $54.6-B EU aid package for Ukraine.
But a financial times report said that the EU was willing to accept Orban’s proposal to have an annual evaluation, and the two sides are negotiating a deal to unblock the package and of EU for Ukraine.
