EU affairs minister: ‘EU uses Article 7 procedure as a political tool’

Speaking to reporters, Janos Boka commented on “the timing” of the European Commission’s recent decision to close the Article 7 procedure against Poland, saying that it had been made “just a few weeks ahead of the EP elections”.

The minister said he had sent a letter to Vera Jourova, European Commissioner for Values and Transparency, asking several questions about the EC’s “evaluation in connection with the situation in Poland”.

Boka said he had pointed out several concrete instances of the Commission “applying political double standards”, adding however that the EC had not given a “meaningful” response to any of his questions.

Speaking about the preparations for the upcoming summit of the leaders of EU member states in late June, Boka said that the EU affairs ministers were in agreement at their Tuesday meeting that the summit’s agenda must include Ukraine’s security situation, competitiveness and foreign relations as well as setting a “strategic timetable” for decisions to be taken on highly important issues during the next EU cycle.

Hungary was among the several countries that proposed to put on the summit’s agenda the issue of migration and its “external dimensions” as a separate topic, Boka said.