{"id":11427,"date":"2018-09-18T09:49:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T08:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/?p=11427"},"modified":"2018-09-18T09:49:47","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T08:49:47","slug":"hungarys-democracy-is-in-danger-e-u-parliament-decides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/hungarys-democracy-is-in-danger-e-u-parliament-decides\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungary\u2019s Democracy Is in Danger, E.U. Parliament Decides"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"css-sb57iz e345g291\">\n<div class=\"css-30n6iy e345g290\">\n<div class=\"css-acwcvw\">\n<p><time class=\"css-pnci9c eqgapgq0\" datetime=\"2018-09-12\">Sept. 12, 2018<\/time><\/p>\n<p>By Patrick Kingsley and Steven Erlanger<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-1h6whtw\">\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">European lawmakers voted by a wide margin on Wednesday to begin a punishment procedure against Hungary for potentially breaching democratic norms, a measure never previously initiated by the European Parliament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">The vote was only the first step toward potential sanctions. The leaders of the European Union\u2019s 28 member states must ultimately decide if the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is at fault, and whether it should be punished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">But it was nevertheless a meaningful moment in contemporary European politics, because it showed Mr. Orban \u2014 for years\u00a0<a class=\"css-12ofxuz\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/09\/11\/world\/europe\/viktor-orban-european-peoples-party.html?module=inline\">sheltered by Europe\u2019s center-right leaders<\/a>, even as he\u00a0<a class=\"css-12ofxuz\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/02\/10\/world\/europe\/hungary-orban-democracy-far-right.html?module=inline\">undermined the rule of law in Hungary<\/a>, criticized European institutions, and became a hero of the far right \u2014 losing the support of most of his allies in the European mainstream.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">The measure passed 448-197, narrowly meeting a two-thirds threshold needed to validate it, after a majority of Mr. Orban\u2019s conservative alliance broke with him.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-1h6whtw\">\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">That alliance, the European People\u2019s Party, whose members include the leaders of the European Parliament, European Commission and European Council, as well as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, had avoided publicly criticizing Mr. Orban, despite rising external objections to his autocratic tendencies in Hungary and his shift toward more extreme positions on European identity, migration and integration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-14jsv4e\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"css-l1fb44 e1a8i6eb0\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"media\">\n<div class=\"css-1xdhyk6 e1vv25i80\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1afaoz0\">Image<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"css-1m50asq\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban2\/merlin_143590422_96b243b2-3269-41b3-994c-4bc9c6dfbc46-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" sizes=\"((min-width: 600px) and (max-width: 1004px)) 84vw, (min-width: 1005px) 60vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban2\/merlin_143590422_96b243b2-3269-41b3-994c-4bc9c6dfbc46-articleLarge.jpg?quality=90&amp;auto=webp 600w,https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban2\/merlin_143590422_96b243b2-3269-41b3-994c-4bc9c6dfbc46-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&amp;auto=webp 1024w,https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban2\/merlin_143590422_96b243b2-3269-41b3-994c-4bc9c6dfbc46-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&amp;auto=webp 2048w\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"css-1wtlzrm e3zkro30\"><span class=\"css-1v07nl7 e1olku6u0\">Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary addressed the European Parliament on Tuesday.<\/span><span class=\"css-vg01wm e18m0s9i0\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1afaoz0\">Credit<\/span>Frederick Florin\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-1h6whtw\">\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">That changed on Wednesday, when 115 members of the alliance voted against Mr. Orban\u2019s government. Only 57 voted to support him, while 28 abstained. Manfred Weber, the alliance\u2019s leader in the European Parliament, and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria, who leads another party in the alliance\u00a0<a class=\"css-12ofxuz\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/10\/16\/world\/europe\/sebastian-kurz-austria.html?module=inline\">that has shifted right<\/a>, both backed the measure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">The government of Hungary said the vote was not valid, because it did not reach the two-thirds threshold once abstentions were included.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">Considered for much of his career a conventional center-right politician, Mr. Orban began to arouse criticism after returning to office in 2010 with an unexpectedly large majority that he used to stack the Hungarian constitutional court with loyalists, reshape the electoral system, and install loyalists at the top of major state institutions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-1h6whtw\">\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">Five years later, he emerged as a hero to the far right after calling for the legalization of the death penalty \u2014 banned by European Union convention \u2014 and for an end to liberal democracy. His opposition to European migration policy and his call for a \u201ccultural counterrevolution\u201d in Europe put him in conflict with the European Union\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">But Mr. Orban\u2019s own political alliance publicly stood by him, and might even have voted with him on Wednesday but for his increasingly provocative behavior since the start of the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">This summer he has appeared more comfortable in the company of far-right figures such as Matteo Salvini, the new Italian interior minister, and Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump\u2019s former chief strategist, than with his traditional allies in the center-right alliance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">The final straw came in a fractious private meeting of the alliance Tuesday night, when Mr. Orban refused to make any compromises, even claiming that he had no control over the actions of his lawmakers in Budapest, according to two people present at the meeting. The argument lasted for so long that the alliance\u2019s interpreters left, leaving the members to debate in English rather than their mother tongues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-14jsv4e\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"css-l1fb44 e1a8i6eb0\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"media\">\n<div class=\"css-1xdhyk6 e1vv25i80\">\n<p><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1afaoz0\">Image<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-8h527k\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban3\/merlin_143335401_ba35b7dd-dcfc-4362-988f-e01330ee66c4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" sizes=\"((min-width: 600px) and (max-width: 1004px)) 84vw, (min-width: 1005px) 60vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban3\/merlin_143335401_ba35b7dd-dcfc-4362-988f-e01330ee66c4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=90&amp;auto=webp 600w,https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban3\/merlin_143335401_ba35b7dd-dcfc-4362-988f-e01330ee66c4-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&amp;auto=webp 1024w,https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/09\/13\/world\/13Orban3\/merlin_143335401_ba35b7dd-dcfc-4362-988f-e01330ee66c4-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&amp;auto=webp 2048w\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"css-1wtlzrm e3zkro30\"><span class=\"css-1v07nl7 e1olku6u0\">A key moment came when both Manfred Weber, left, and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria, right, decided to support the censure of Hungary.<\/span><span class=\"css-vg01wm e18m0s9i0\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1afaoz0\">Credit<\/span>Hans Punz\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-1h6whtw\">\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">The parliamentary vote came on the same day that Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, made what is expected to be his last \u201cstate of the union\u201d speech before European Union elections next spring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">Mr. Juncker called for the bloc to be more aggressive in exercising its collective power, especially to defend a multilateral world order under threat from President Trump, Russia and China.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-14jsv4e\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-1h6whtw\">\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">\u201cThe geopolitical situation makes this Europe\u2019s hour: The time for European sovereignty has come,\u201d Mr. Juncker said grandly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">\u201cWhenever Europe speaks as one, we can impose our position on others,\u201d he said, arguing that a deal he struck in July with Mr. Trump to try to negotiate a solution to a potential trade war showed the power of unity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">The union is largely united on trade issues, but has deep divisions on questions such as migration, security, values, and challenges to democratic and legal norms from central European members, especially Hungary and Poland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">Mr. Juncker, a federalist of the old school, also called for the euro currency to become more of a rival to the dollar for purchases of energy and high-tech European products like airplanes. The Europeans are struggling to preserve a nuclear deal with Iran in the face of American opposition, but are stymied by American secondary sanctions, given the dominant role that the dollar plays in international trade and banking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1i0edl6 e2kc3sl0\">He also called for more investment in European defense, and for controlling migration by shoring up the bloc\u2019s external borders and investing in countries from where many of the migrants originate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sept. 12, 2018 By Patrick Kingsley and Steven Erlanger European lawmakers voted by a wide margin on Wednesday to begin a punishment procedure against Hungary for potentially breaching democratic norms,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-11427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-room","tag-25"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}