European Parliament leaders condemn Prime Minister Orbán’s recent racist declarations

Statement of the Conference of Presidents: "We, the leaders and political groups of the European Parliament strongly condemn the recent racist statement by Prime Minister Orban that he did not want to be "peoples mixed race". These unacceptable statements clearly violate our values as enshrined by the EU Treaties and have no place within our societies. We also regret that Prime Minister Orban continued to defend these unacceptable statements on other occasions. All forms of racism and discrimination must be condemned unambiguously and dealt with at all levels.

"We urge the Council and the Commission to immediately condemn this statement. The European Parliament reiterates its call to the Council to issue its recommendations to Hungary within the framework of Article 7 of Treaty on European Union. This includes addressing any new developments that may affect the rule of law and democracy, as well as determining if there is a risk of serious violations by Hungary of Article 2. We remind the Council that all Member States are required to work together to end any attacks on the values set forth in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). We request that this issue be added to the agenda for the next European Council leaders' meeting.

"We ask the Commission to prioritize the ongoing infringement proceedings against Hungary for violating EU rules banning racism and discrimination. It should also make full use the tools available to remedy violations of values as enshrined at Article 2. We are also pleased that the Commission has decided to activate the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation for Hungary. We expect the next steps in this regard after the second letter of 20 juillet. We call upon the Commission to halt the approval of the Hungarian National Plan under the Recovery and Adaptive Facility until all criteria are met.

"We want to emphasize that hate speech, racism and discrimination are not allowed in our society. We urge further EU actions at EU level and by EU governments, including against increasing normalization of racism and xenophobia. Furthermore, we emphasize the need for a monitoring mechanism and accountability mechanism to ensure that EU anti-racism policy and legislation is being applied effectively."

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