Debates

Thursday, 5 May 2022 - Strasbourg

Ongoing hearings under Article 7(1) TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (B9-0262/2022, B9-0263/2022, B9-0264/2022)

  Mick Wallace (The Left). – Madam President, Poland and Hungary, of course, have some massive rule of law problems. It’s very easy to throw rocks at Poland and Hungary, but people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks. Rule of law problems proliferate all over the EU, and hypocrisy is widespread.

You lecture certain countries about human rights and the rule of law when it suits the geopolitical agenda. But where was the outcry when the protesters in Barcelona – the Catalans – were being brutally suppressed by Spanish police and the government? Where’s the outrage over the treatment of the yellow vests in Paris?

We’ve been to the court twice in Lithuania, where Algirdas Paleckis is facing several years in prison. He is accused of being a Russian spy, and the only evidence that they’re supposed to have against him, even the judges can’t see it! So no evidence has been presented against him because they’re saying it’s a state secret.

Mother of God, is this the rule of law of a Member State of the European Union? The Algirdas Paleckis case puts shame on the European Union.