Historic Petition: European Parliament Gathers Necessary Signatures in 4 Days to Deprive Hungary's Voting Rights in the EU Council

The European Parliament has collected the required 120 signatures on a petition to deprive Hungary of its voting rights in the Council of the European Union. The petition's initiator, Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa, posted this information on Twitter (X).

According to Sarvamaa, the petition was supported by 120 MEPs from different political groups and from "several member states".

"Thank you to everyone who supported this historic petition. Next, it would be very important to get the final general support for the petition in the plenary as soon as possible. This may be possible as early as next week, as the Parliament will vote on a resolution on Hungary next week," the MEP wrote.

He noted that the content of the resolution is still being discussed, but he believes it is quite possible that Article 7.2 of the Treaty on European Union will be included in one form or another.

Earlier this week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban voiced "new demands to the European Union" to unblock €50 billion in vital aid for Ukraine, which Orban has been consistently blocking with his "veto" despite the decision of all other 26 EU members to provide this aid. 

In response to this latest blackmail by Orban, Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa initiated a petition to deprive Hungary of its voting rights in the European Council under Article 7 of the EU Treaty. 

He stressed that the procedures under this article, which allow for the suspension of certain rights, including voting in the EU Council, have not been applied against Hungary, despite its repeated violations of EU values - respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law.