Hungary and Poland should be removed from the European Union over so-called rule of law and LGBT issues, said Nyamko Sabuni, the leader of Sweden’s Liberal Party.
In an opinion-editorial piece published by the liberal establishment newspaper Expressen, Sabuni urged the European Union to adopt an “effective mechanism” that would enable the bloc to take “rapid and forceful action” against country’s like Hungary and Poland, which she claimed are “dismantling the rule of law and restricting LGBTQ rights”.
“European co-operation is based on a range of liberal values,” Sabuni wrote. “These include freedom of movement, human rights, and the rule of law. If you cannot subscribe to these values, then you have nothing to do with Europe. You have punished yourself.”
The liberal leader, in addition to maligning the governments of Hungary and Poland as “authoritarian” and “oppressive”, claimed that Hungary — as it is today — would not meet the standards required to join the bloc.
“It is easy to see that today’s Hungary would have never been approved as a member of the European Union,” Sabuni wrote.
EU funding for Hungary and Poland at risk?
Later on in the piece, Sabuni calls on the European Union to convene a special summit to discuss how the two Central European countries should be “dealt with”.
“One of the most important issues at the EU summit will be to draw up new, stricter rules on how countries can voluntarily withdraw from the Union and, if necessary, be forced into exclusion,” she said.
Sabuni also urged the European Union to cut funds to Hungary, saying: “Contributions to Hungary from the EU budget and recovery must be curtailed as soon as possible. Receiving money from the EU should never be combined with anti-LGBTQ laws or other human rights violations.”
Sabuni’s war cry comes after Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte claimed in June that Hungary “has no business being in the EU” due to the country’s adoption of an anti-pedophile law which, among other things, bans educators from distributing material containing gender or LBGTQ ideology to those under the age of eighteen.
“However, we cannot tell them to leave. We need to go step by step while hoping that they will adapt,” Rutte said. “The long-term aim is to bring Hungary to its knees on this issue.”
Amid harsh criticism from leftists across the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said: “The recently adopted Hungarian bill protects the rights of children, guarantees the rights of parents and does not apply to the rights of persons over 18 years of age-related to sexual orientation, so it does not contain any discriminatory elements.”
“Education in schools must not be in conflict with the will of parents; it must at most be supplementary, its form and content must be clearly defined, and it must be subject to parental consent,” Orbán added.
Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga slammed Rutte’s statements, writing on Twitter that it was just another episode from the EU’s “political blackmailing series.”
Varga also took to Facebook to address the Dutch prime minister’s words, saying that his criticism took “an old and arrogant colonizer tone”.
“Hungary has been attacked on an unprecedented scale only because the protection of children and families is our priority, and in view of this, we are unwilling to let [the] LGBTQ lobby into our schools and kindergartens,” Varga said.
