Solidarity cannot be voluntary in EU

Solidarity cannot be voluntary when it comes to migration or any other issue because the refusal of some European Union member states to contribute would undermine the EU’s ability to function and thereby challenge the bloc’s very foundations, a liberal MEP said in an interview to Hungarian public television on Tuesday.

Kati Piri of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats said the principle of solidarity not only related to the issue of migration but to security and the allocation of funds provided for poorer regions, too.

“Hungary is a good example of that because it has been receiving the most EU funding without any objections by wealthier member states.

I think similar solidarity is needed on migration, too,” Piri, who is a Dutch MEP of Hungarian origin, said.

“Now that Hungary and Slovakia have lost their case in the European Court of Justice, I see no other option but mandatory implementation. The European Union is based on this principle,” she said. “In an ideal world, there would be no need for Brussels to oblige its member states to do something, as the all member states would be doing their job.”

There is a broad consensus in the European Council; only three countries object to migrant quotas, said Piri. After the European court’s ruling, even Slovakia said it would implement the decision, she said, adding that

by now Hungary and Poland remained the scheme’s only opponents. Still, the two countries have the power to block it.

Piri said she hoped that “the Hungarian government and the Hungarian people will slowly see refugees for what they are; they didn’t leave their homes on their own accord but were forced to do so.

Source: MTI