EU protects MEPs from prosecution in Hungary
Italian MEP Ilaria Salis of the Green and Left Alliance will retain her parliamentary immunity. The European Parliament has decided by a narrow majority. Salis faces trial in Hungary for allegedly physically assaulting right-wing extremists in 2023. Hungarian opposition figures Péter Magyar and Klára Dobrev will also retain their immunity. Which side is failing to uphold democratic principles?
A discredited judiciary
Maszol can understand the fears of the majority in the European Parliament regarding the Ilaria Salis case:
“The main argument is that there is no guarantee of impartial justice in her case in Hungary. The fact is that this case, like all other cases, has been politicised to an ugly degree. Which is why the impression has spread across Europe that the Hungarian government has long since passed a guilty verdict, which is untenable in a state governed by the rule of law, in which a person must be considered innocent until a court has ruled otherwise.”
So much for the rule of law
The European Parliament is authorising its members to commit criminal offences, criticises the pro-government Magyar Nemzet:
“We once imagined that if we Hungarians rid ourselves from the remnants of our socialist past and caught up with the leading European countries where democracy has long flourished, we would gain admission to an elite club where the rule of law prevails. We were naive. ... For Magyar and others, the European Parliament's decision is tantamount to a blank cheque to commit criminal offences. They should be aware that the EU elite has them in its grip through the lever of immunity.”