Hungary: Could Hungary lose its EU voting rights as a result of Human Rights violations by Orban Government??

Human Rights Violations demonstration in Budapest, Hungay

The European Parliament is set to vote on Hungary's human rights record, which could lead to the country losing voting rights. Can Prime Minister Viktor Orban make the case to lawmakers to avoid sanctions?

Marta Pardavi said she knew all too well what would be waiting for her after speaking out in Brussels about the Hungarian government's continuing crackdown on human rights and rule of law. Pardavi, the co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, lives daily with the repercussions of defending what are generally considered "European values" — but not in Viktor Orban's Hungary.

Pardavi, whose organization represents and defends asylum-seekers in Hungary, described to DW what happened after a recent appearance before the civil liberties committee in the European Parliament (EP). "Already during the event, while I was sitting here in Brussels in the European Parliament, my colleagues in the office were flooded with hate mails, with telephone calls, calling me and my organization out for 'slandering Hungary' while we stand up for democracy," she recalled. "My name and my picture and those of my colleagues who come to Brussels to talk about the rule-of-law problems in Hungary are always targeted after these events. It's not only a fear but based on evidence that I know that this will be happening."

As Pardavi predicted, within an hour of this event finishing, the Budapest office of Amnesty International, which also had a representative on the panel, reported it had received a death threat for supporting the "VoteYes4Hungary" campaign urging the EP to vote Wednesday to launch Article 7 sanction procedures against the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, which could lead to a suspension of voting rights in EU affairs.

Could Hungary lose its EU voting rights? | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 10.09.2018