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Energizing European Democracy: Time for Transnational lists – open letter

This Wednesday 7th February the European Parliament in Strasbourg will once again vote on transnational lists, with the difference that now there is a tangible opportunity to actually implement them in practice.

Find below in English an open letter of MEPs and also current and former EU officials calling on the necessity of transnational lists: Energising European Democracy_ Time for Transnational Lists_Open_Letter

Letter to Mr. Timmermans on the systemic threat to the rule of law in Hungary

The European Union needs to know that democracy is dismantled under Viktor Orbán’s regime.

Last week the first vice president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, addressed the European Parliament’s plenary on the situation of democracy in Hungary. He referred to the core values of the European Union and to the spirit of Article 2 TEU. I welcome the long-awaited committed steps, but it seems that the Commission still has illusions regarding the system of Viktor Orbán.

A couple of weeks ago, commenting on the new legislation targeting the CEU, Mr. Timmermans said there is “not a systemic threat to the rule of law in Hungary.” Therefore, I addressed a letter to the Commission and I summarised the developments of the past seven years in order to reveal how the Hungarian government has been dismantling the rule of law step by step. This list of actions is long and proves that it is more than individual cases. The measures include the adaptation and the continuous amendments of the new Fundamental Law; constant attacks on media pluralism; the limitation of the juridical independence and the stigmatisation of NGOs, which actions are destabilising the very foundations of democracy. The European Commission has to understand that such politeness is unnecessary and only facilitates further decline, harming not only Hungary, but also the European Union as a whole.

I hope that this analysis will help the Commission to admit the systemic threat of rule of law in Hungary

 

Source of picture: Twitter

European Parliamentary committee writes open letter to VP Frans Timmermans on hindered corruption report

The European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans has written to the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties and Justice committee, saying he has shelved plans to publish a report on corruption in the EU this year.

You can find a copy of the letter here (or will attach if no link)

Please see below a short quote from Greens/EFA transparency spokesperson Benedek Jávor.

Timmermans seems to think that the European Commission is already doing more than enough to fight corruption in Europe. Apparently he sees no need for measures like the long awaited 2016 anticorruption report. With 200,000 protesting corruption in Romania last night, and corruption one of the issues identified as a major problem of public concern in Europe, he is painfully out of touch with what the public expects. 

 The EU is absolutely not doing enough. The 2016 report must be published, including a chapter on the EU institutions, something that was missing from the previous effort. This would be a positive first step to restore the trust of citizens in the EU institutions.

Here is the link to the letter

 

(Image source: politico.eu)