The Treaty on European Union (TEU) in its Article 7, provides possibility to introduce sanctions against the Member-State which violates basic principles of the European Union. It was used before in case of Austria, because of the appointment of neo-nazi Chancellor, Heider.
Hungary has seriously limited basic human rights, against basic legal acts of the European Union. Using force against refugees on the border line with Serbia, and also using force against journalists, as well as limitation of fundamental rights of refugees due to state of emergency in two Hungarian provinces, demand strong reaction of the EU institutions.
What do you think? Should the European Commission, as a keeper of the Union, use its right to initiate legal procedure and demand sanctions against this member state?
Hello Vladimir, in my opinion, from one perspective we can assume that there was some kind of violation even European Charter of human rights, also the UN Charter of human rights, but on the other hand the EU could see the steps of Hungary as a compulsory defence of Schengen area if the EU considers the immigrants as a threat...moreover, there is still valid sovereignty of nation in the time of crisis and self-defence policy. what can the Commission do? in the case of quotas, the EU is trying to blackmail the member states at least with non-funding structural policies but nobody does not speak about Hungary coercion against immigrants as an issue to deal with. ...probably this immigrants crisis has become the security issue not even for certain member states but also for whole European Union as a community.
Not likely, The EC has shown that it doesn't care about hardline policy on refugees among frontier member states. Something greatly contrasting with EC though stance against the Syriza government in Greece.
Dear Vladimir,
the issue is made the more sensitive, as it is politically burdened, and due to the fact that the present crisis does not seem to be easy to tackle for the EU isntitutions or for major, opinion leading EU countries. As I see is, certainly a key issue is how far the refugees' rights are taken seriously. On the other hand, it is also important to take into consideration, how far the security issues - which are not only regulated by Dublin regulations, but are the first priorities of why citizens should trust their states and the EU - are met by those countries which simply let unkown masses of people cross their borders without even making an effort to register the individuals in these masses. Also, one should consider how far refugees are ready to subject themselves to the demands of lawful national authorities, thereby causing unexpected ex-lex situations in European countries.
Dear Vladimir,
To my understanding and perception, there are two inherent coins of European Constitutional Order, first political constitutionalism and second legal one. If we choose the latter it seems quite clear and to my standpoint necessary and desirable to implement sanction regime against Hungary, because there are body of comprehensive arguments that recent Hungarian Authorities nullified some fundamental constitutional values such as rule of law, particularly its substantive notion, respect to fundamental human rights and virtually undermined the very idea of liberal democracy. As I remember correctly last year Prime Minister Orban indicated explicitly that they do not want to build liberal democracy in modern Hungary. As regarding political part of constitutionalism and discourse I understand that to implement such a decisive decision which oriented towards to secure European Values is vital but in the current political settings it seems impossible. If the second part of my perception will fail it will be perfect to the value oriented European Constitutional Order but...
Please see very interesting perception about the loss of constitutionalism in Hungary by the insiders perspective.
Gabor Halmai on the loss of constitutionality in Hungary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQWXnTZKyg
Best Regards,
Karlo
Dear Karlo,
you return to an earlier phase of criticism against the recent Hungarian government. Vladimir's questions concern its policy and practice during the present migration crisis, if I understand him correctly.
As for the speech by the Prime Minister you mention here is its text to refresh our memory:
http://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/prime-minister-viktor-orban-s-speech-at-the-25th-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp
Once again, this is a speech from summer, 2014.
Best regards,
Ferenc
Hello Vladimir,
The european commission can't take any sanction on a country. The law applicable to international migration is based on international law (treaties) that are binding only for countries that are engaged in a ratification process. These conventions are issued from the UNHCR. On the UNHCR site you can find papers involving Hungary. An NGO could be created to advocate the subject but it would before any other action sue the Country before a national court, if it's possible. Any way, it's usefull to ask an international citizen based organization to take part in defending the rights of forced migrants. Follow the link to UNHCR that condamn hungarian governement position.
Best regards,
Isabelle
Hello Vladimir,
The european commission can't take any sanction on a country. The law applicable to international migration is based on international law (treaties) that are binding only for countries that are engaged in a ratification process. These conventions are issued from the UNHCR. On the UNHCR site you can find papers involving Hungary. An NGO could be created to advocate the subject but it would before any other action sue the Country before a national court, if it's possible. Any way, it's usefull to ask an international citizen based organization to take part in defending the rights of forced migrants. Follow the link to UNHCR that condamn hungarian governement position.
Best regards,
Isabelle
http://www.unhcr.fr/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=search&docid=56791385c&query=Hongrie