Justice Minister Judit Varga slammed what she called “double standards” in the European Parliament against Hungary’s law which enhances government powers to tackle the novel coronavirus epidemic after the body adopted a resolution criticising the law.
“Rather than attacking Hungary’s constitutionality … and urging the European Commission to launch another Article 7 procedure, the European Parliament should be focusing on tackling the epidemic,” Varga told MTI.
She called the resolution’s “allegations” questioning the state of fundamental rights in Hungary “baseless”, saying that the epidemic response law met all criteria concerning the rule of law. She said the coronavirus law would only remain in effect until the end of the state of emergency, adding that under the law, the government could only pass decrees that concern the fight against the virus. “Moreover, parliament can withdraw the authority granted to the government at any time,” the minister said, arguing that the EP resolution was therefore incorrect in saying that Hungary had declared a state of emergency indefinitely. “And all this is coming from the EP, whose operations have recently resembled chaos more than anything,” the minister said. “It’s sad that certain political forces have the time during a pandemic to continue their smear campaigns against Hungary.”