European folks! This is a serious post for every one of you.
You probably already heard of it, but a few days ago something very concerning has happened in Hungary, a country member of the European Union: the government has given full powers to its far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with the pretense of fighting more effectively the spread of Covid-19 (Coronavirus). The Prime Minister will be able to govern through decrees without time limits, against the opposition’s request to insert the maximum limit of ninety days in the text. Orbán will also be able to impose a “forced pause” on parliamentary work, if he deems it appropriate, to change or suspend laws currently in force and block elections.
See the articles below:
Europe must stop this disgrace: Viktor Orbán is dismantling democracy
Orban uses coronavirus as excuse to suspend asylum rights in Hungary
Hungary’s Far-Right Leader, Viktor Orban, Uses Coronavirus To Gain ‘Unlimited Power’
It is an unacceptable attack on democracy within the European Union, an institution born specifically to prevent new dictatorships in the continent after the horrors of WWII.
Right now we would need the unanimous vote of the member states to sanction/expel Hungary from the Union, a prospect that is currently highly unlikely.
This is where you can all help, though.
The Luca Coscioni Association (an Italian-based non-profit association for civil rights), back in October (well before this Hungarian mess) had proposed the creation of a useful tool (but really useful, legally useful) to prevent the authoritarian drift of the governments of many countries inside the European Union.
Their initiative aims precisely to “set up a permanent monitoring mechanism and effective sanctions against the violation of citizens’ civil and political rights” through the ECI, “the initiative of European citizens, a tool provided by the EU Treaties to propose the Commission to act on issues of European interest ”.
The depressing part is that they need a million signatures and they are just around 10,000 and something, so I would pray to anyone like me who is startled reading the Hungarian turn to sign the petition. Thank you for your attention, please spread the word.
Sign the petition here!!!
Where my fellow EU citizens at? (You have to be an EU citizen to sign it.)
And please reblog even if you aren’t an EU citizen. Appreciate it!
