Hungary angered by EU's not 'full democracy' tag

STRASBOURG, France－Hungary reacted furiously on Thursday to a vote in the European Parliament that declared that the country was no longer a "full democracy" and that the European Union needed to act.

The response came after members of the European Parliament voted 433-123 in favor of the resolution. It described Hungary as "a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy" in "serious breach" of EU democratic norms.

It blamed EU inaction for having encouraged the slide away from democracy and said the bloc's COVID-19 recovery funds should be withheld from Budapest until it put its house in order.

The vote was largely symbolic and does not change the course of EU decision-making, which requires the unanimity of all 27 member states－including Hungary－to adopt positions on major issues, such as sanctions on Russia.

The vote is the latest in a series of showdowns between the EU's institutions and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government in Budapest. The bloc's executive arm, the European Commission, is expected to announce on Sunday that it is prepared to suspend payments of some EU money to Hungary over its alleged violations.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters in Budapest: "I consider it an insult against a Hungarian person if someone questions Hungary's capacity for democracy."

He said he was astonished that some in Brussels and Strasbourg insisted on "belittling" his country.

With their vote, the EU lawmakers endorsed a parliamentary report that said Hungary had been backsliding on democratic and fundamental rights since 2018 through the "deliberate and systematic efforts of the Hungarian government".

Politically biased

Lawmakers opposing the report said it contains "subjective opinions and politically biased statements, and reflects vague concerns, value judgements and double standards".

Szijjarto said on Thursday during a news conference in Budapest that Hungarian voters had "decided in four parliamentary elections in a row what kind of future they want for the country" by electing Orban and his party.

"We resent that some people in Strasbourg and Brussels think that the Hungarian people are not mature enough to decide their own future," Szijjarto said.

EU countries have been treading a careful line around Hungary because of the need to win its assent on major decisions.

Agencies Via Xinhua