Fidesz MEP slams EU over “witch hunt” as EP debates Hungary’s transparency bill

The European Parliament’s “witch hunt against Hungary has reached a new low” with the legislative body putting the bill on the transparency of public life on its agenda, András László, an MEP of ruling Fidesz said on Wednesday, vowing that “we will protect Hungarian interests and next year’s election from foreign meddling.”

Speaking to Hungarian journalists, László said the European People’s Party, the Socialists and the Greens, as the allies of the Hungarian opposition, had granted a request to include the transparency bill on the EP plenary session’s agenda.

He said the MEPs who had called for Wednesday afternoon’s debate were “attempting to use a bill that hasn’t even been passed by parliament yet to launch a political attack against Hungary”. “They don’t even know what its actual impact will be or what the final text will be,” László said.

“This is a new low in the European Parliament’s witch hunt that we’ve already been seeing against Hungary,” he said. “But we’ll stand up for Hungarian interests.” He said the bill was aimed at putting an end to the kind of “very direct” political interference that had been uncovered in connection with the 2022 general election.