Brussels is only concerned about the rule of law when the right is in government

Fidesz MEPs, Enikő Győri and Balázs Hidvéghi, say that Brussels is being selective in its approach to the rule of law and applying double standards. This is the conclusion of the deafening silence surrounding the Spanish amnesty law in Brussels, which raises serious concerns about the rule of law. According to MEPs, while Brussels overlooks the sins of the socialist Spanish government, it constantly attacks right-wing conservative governments with allegations.

MEP Balázs Hidvéghi said that after the 2017 Catalan referendum, several people were convicted by Spanish courts of serious crimes such as sedition and the misuse of public funds. “Those who are now defending the socialist’ law are in fact suggesting that those crimes were never really committed. If that’s the case, why didn’t the socialists speak up at that time against the court rulings?” asked MEP Hidvéghi.

He stressed that if those crimes did happen, it meant one thing: the socialists were trading laws and the Spanish Constitution just to remain in power. “Isn’t this a textbook example of a serious violation of the rule of law?” said MEP Hidvéghi in his speech.

He added that amnesties are only granted in exceptional situations, but there is nothing exceptional about forming a government after elections. According to MEP Hidvéghi “the tenors of the rule of law are now in a deafening silence in Strasbourg and Brussels”, proving that the debates on the rule of law in Brussels are completely discredited.

MEP Enikő Győri, speaking in Spanish in her plenary speech, pointed out that “Spanish and European socialists believe that everything that is happening in the Iberian Peninsula is a domestic matter. It is an interesting position, since the left has been attacking Hungary for years on fabricated grounds. And the European Commission is helping their effort, using double standards and applying the rule of law selectively,” said the MEP.

She added that they have learned that Brussels is only concerned when the right is in government. “In Hungary the Commission was even interested in the office space of judges, but they do not criticise the fact that Sánchez, in exchange for power, is throwing away the Spanish constitution and subordinating justice to politics,” MEP Enikő Győri pointed out.