On Monday, Jeroen Lenaers, a Dutch representative of the European People's Party proposed that the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the full plenary session address the new Slovak legislation that threatens imprisonment to those questioning the Beneš Decrees. The Dutch MEP said that the decrees are not historical legislation, but "living and ongoing violations of the rule of law" that are still being used to take land and forests away from Hungarians.
"At the initiative of the Tisza Party, the European People's Party has succeeded" in getting the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Affairs to discuss "violations of the law in Slovakia that discriminate against European citizens on ethnic grounds," Tisza leader Péter Magyar posted on Facebook on Monday. According to Tisza, which belongs to the EPP faction, "this legislation that is contrary to EU law will soon be brought before the EP plenary session."
According to the statement, "The Orbán government continues to fail to stand up for our fellow Hungarians living in Felvidék in the European Parliament."
"Where is the government's decisive response to the Beneš Decrees?" the MEP representing Mi Hazánk also asked on Monday. Zsuzsanna Borvendég wrote an open letter to Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, because "Slovakia has placed discriminatory provisions based on the principle of collective guilt, affecting our fellow Hungarians in Felvidék under the protection of criminal law." She believes that the new legislation "violates fundamental rights, above all the freedom of speech and the freedom of historical debate," and could intimidate "the entire Hungarian community in Slovakia," forcing them to tolerate becoming "second-class citizens."
The Mi Hazánk MEP considered it important to establish partnerships "to defend against the EU's imperial ambitions and its policy of pushing for war, sanctions and threatening nations." According to Borvendég, none of this can override “ protecting the fundamental rights of Hungarian communities abroad” and it cannot be an excuse “for remaining silent when historical injustices are cemented into law by legislative means.”
Lenaers also urged the European Commission to take decisive action. As previously reported, Viktor Orbán's Chief Advisor Katalin Szili recently sent a letter to the European Commission on the subject. According to Gemist.hu, when asked whether she had consulted with the government, she responded with a vague "I am not obligated to inform anyone in advance," adding that "no one has raised any objections." In response to Telex's question, the European Commission's spokesperson confirmed that they had received the letter and were reviewing the issues raised.
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