Deutsch: EC appoints ‘left-wing political activist’ as liaison of rule-of-law report

In a video posted on Wednesday, Fidesz EP group leader Tamas Deutsch noted that the EC had promised an unbiased 2020 rule-of-law report. He accused the EC of instead having produced “a political pamphlet” echoing the European and Hungarian left-wing’s slanders against Hungary.

He said that after the “considerable scandal” generated by “that biased report” which “applied double standards”, the EC had promised to prepare this year’s report without any bias and prejudice.

Deutsch accused Magyar, a staff member of an EU directorate-general, of being an “unruly left-wing political activist” rather than an impartial official.

Deutsch noted that in an interview Magyar had called Hungary a regime that no longer met the criteria of the democratic rule of law that respects human rights.

In the letter, the European lawmakers of Fidesz called on the EC to immediately withdraw the “obviously biased” liaison and publicly guarantee a fair procedure.

In a letter to European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova and Commissioner Didier Reynders, Deutsch criticised Magyar for his “regular biased statements” in connection with the Hungarian government.

He cited Magyar as having said in an interview that the government’s “efforts to tear down” the rule of law in Hungary had led to a decline in the protection of fundamental rights and that the government was free to use its power as it pleased.

Deutsch added that in their letter to the commission, Fidesz’s MEPs asked how the executive body could expect “someone who is biased against the Hungarian government” to be unbiased in his assessment of the state of the rule of law in the country. MEPs, he said, also wanted to know how the commission’s independence could be guaranteed with a delegate as closely linked to the left as Magyar.