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MEP Strik: intervene if the Netherlands follows Hungary

by AI | 04.Jul 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The EU must act quickly if the new Dutch government undermines the rule of law, says a GreenLeft MEP. Delaying like in Hungary would increase the damage.

MEP Tineke Strik. Photo: FENA/European Union

BRUSSELS – If the Netherlands starts to undermine the rule of law like Hungary, then the other EU countries must learn lessons from the situation in Hungary. They should quickly start a European sanction procedure, believes Dutch MEP Tineke Strik.

“The situation in Hungary has shown that you need to be early. Because Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been able to gradually secure his position through several re-elections since 2010,” says Strik. So it was, in her view, very late when the European Union started the so-called Article 7 procedure against Hungary in 2018, which can ultimately lead to the loss of voting rights in the EU.

“Of course, as the Netherlands, we are not immediately in an Article 7 procedure,” says Strik, who has been an MEP for GroenLinks since 2019 and also a Professor of Migration Law in Nijmegen since 2020. “But the new government is announcing measures that could be problematic. Such as sidelining EU law by declaring a crisis and massive cuts to public broadcasting.”

(July 3, 2024)