Rechtsstaat
‘De EU moet Hongarije’s glijvlucht naar autocratie stoppen’
Voor NRC schrijven Ton van den Brink en Anna Gerbrandy de nieuwe Europa-colum. Hieronder een voorproefje.
De Centraal-Europese Universiteit (CEU) is voor de Hongaarse regering de zoveelste bedreiging van de nationale identiteit. Zij moet dus sluiten. Hoe kan het toch dat een land dat vol overtuiging voor het EU-lidmaatschap heeft gekozen zijn middelvinger opsteekt naar EU-waarden en er nog mee wegkomt ook? Moet de EU hier niet optreden?
Het gaat immers niet om één keer, maar om een reeks verontrustende maatregelen: de regering Orban probeerde al de onafhankelijkheid van rechters, de centrale bank en de media aan te tasten en heeft mensenrechten geschonden door vluchtelingen op te sluiten en minderheden (zoals de Roma) te discrimineren. De Hongaarse rechtsstaat is veranderd in een autoritaire staat en de regering doet geen enkele moeite om de ramkoers richting ‘Brussel’ zelfs maar te maskeren.
De volledige column is te lezen op NRC.nl.
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Liberté, Liberté chérie… where things can go wrong. The French reaction to the terrorists attack in Paris
Foto door: Fugitron (CC BY-SA)
Following the Paris attacks of November 2015, president Hollande declared a state of emergency in France for twelve days. It was extended for three months until the 26th of February 2016 by the law no 2015-1501 of 20 November 2015 which, with no surprise, was adopted almost unanimously (only 12 negative votes and one abstention). According to the law no 55-385 of 3 April 1955 the state of emergency can be declared where there is an imminent danger to the public order, or in relation to events which amount, by their nature and severity, to a public disaster. It is clear that this exceptional regime was declared in order to specifically address the terrorist attacks by religious fundamentalists. As in many other Union member states, France witnesses a growing concern for internal security. However, this concern may stifle the equally important concern for justice and freedom that characterizes any state based on the rule of law. It further poses the question of the actual efficiency of legislation on security in the fight against terrorists.
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Enforcement of European Union values: how should the EU respond to the recent threat to democracy in Poland?
Let’s admit it, things are going wrong in Poland and it can be said that democracy is seriously under threat in the European Union’s sixth-largest Member State. On 23 December 2015, the Sejm – the lower house of the Polish Parliament – passed a highly controversial law, which reorganizes the Constitutional Court. A few days later Andrzej Duda – the president of the country since August 2015 – signed the bill into law. The signing took place after a few weeks of a contentious constitutional crisis and despite of the domestic public outcry, large street demonstrations, concerns from the European Commission and the members of the European Parliament and international criticism.