Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 7 July 2021 - Strasbourg

Breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ citizens in Hungary as a result of the adopted legal changes in the Hungarian Parliament - The outcome of 22 June hearings under Article 7(1) of the TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (debate)

  Guy Verhofstadt (Renew). – Mr President, I see that you are very active with your hammer today.

So I have, first of all, a question to the Commission, can that be done independently from my speaking time? Because I hear, in the German press, that there is a suspension of the recovery plan of Hungary. But the German press is not the official gazette of the European Union. My question: is this the truth? Has that been done?

(A voice responds ‘I will reply to it)

OK, that is confirmation that you will reply to it. This House has a right to know if there is a suspension of the recovery plan of Hungary; that is a major decision. We also need to know because Ms Von der Leyen didn’t say anything about that this morning in her intervention, and we need to know that. So, that was outside my speaking time, if would allow me.

Saying that, I have followed this debate since this morning, and I’m stunned. I say that to Slovenian Presidency. After three years, closing the university, closing a radio station like Klubradio, going after the judges, the only thing that you can say here is: oh, we got the debate, and it was an interesting debate, and we didn’t apply Article 7 Paragraph 1, because we had no time to do it; we cannot decide.

I think that’s a shame! When are you going to take the only decision that you need to take, that is to request from Hungary to repeal the LGTBI law that had been voted. That is what you have to decide. No, Madam Commissioner, it is not sufficient to hold it on the agenda; there needs to be a decision. Article 7 was launched by this Parliament three years ago. It’s a shame that, after three years, the only thing you have to tell us is: oh, we will come back later on in autumn.