European left accused of bias towards Romanian PM
July 5th, 2012A commentator on the right finds the idea of a new Socialist policy targeting national minorities a campaign lie, and asks why the European left voted against a motion to examine Romanian Socialist Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s policies.
In a sarcastic editorial in Magyar Hírlap Gyula T. Máté asks how Socialist Party Chairman Attila Mesterházy became all of a sudden a politician . He notes that at the 2005 referendum, the Socialists campaigned against extending citizenship to Hungarians living in neighbouring countries. (A majority voted in favour, but the low turnout made the result invalid). This new sensitivity must be an American campaign manager’s doing, he jokes. He goes on to ask why Greens and Socialists in the European Parliament, including Hungarian left-wing MEPs, voted against the motion to examine Ponta’s conduct – conduct which, says Máté, runs counter to “written and unwritten European norms”. Venice Committee chairman Gianni Buquicchio has requested the Romanian government “to fully respect its Constitution and the international standards on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law”. If similar accusations were levelled at Hungary, T Máté contends, the European left, “Cohn Bendit and Lunacek” would cry “dictatorship” and “fascism”. The right-wing columnist speculates that besides Ponta, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico might also enjoy “the protection of the left” in the European Parliament
Tags: European Parliament, Mesterházy, minorities, Romania