SD doesn’t seem to understand the value of democracy

Karen Carlsbrough, Liberals: The party must stop running Urban

This is a discussion article. It is the writer who endorses the opinions expressed in the text, not Aftonbladet.

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discussion. Swedish Democrats Do it again – running the affairs of the Hungarian regime in the European Parliament.

During the vote on Thursday, Parliament took a clear stand against it Victor Urban ruled, and decided that Hungary could no longer be classified as a free democracy.

The Swedish Democrats were among the small minority that voted against the report.

It is essential that the European Parliament declare that Hungary is no longer a free democracy. In recent years, the world has witnessed how Viktor Orbán has dismantled the Hungarian rule of law and democracy step by step.

When the core values ​​of the EU – those on which cooperation is fully based – are not respected, it is a development against which we in the EU collectively need to stand up with all possible force.

Orbán’s government undermines the independence of the judiciary, silences the media and attacks basic liberties and rights.

Recently, in the past week, new laws were introduced to prevent Hungarian women from having safe abortions.

In May, Orban used the Russian invasion of Ukraine to declare a national emergency. It gives him the power to legislate without consulting the elected parliament.

The situation constitutes a rule of law crisis that undermines the very foundation of the European Union and threatens cooperation as a whole.

With this in mind, it is quite clear to me that our tax money should not go to fund the ways of Urban Dictatorship. The EU should demand more importance from Hungary before it gets a single cent of EU aid.

The Swedish Democrats do not agree with this.

I’m not surprised. Every time we act in Parliament against the developments in Hungary, and the same disastrous developments in Poland, the Swedish Democrats have resisted in the company of the far right in Parliament.

SD MEP Charlie Weimer’s own explanation of why he voted “no” is not reassuring, quite the opposite.

To suggest that the EU and Parliament are politicizing the rule of law by pointing to what is happening in Hungary is downright absurd, nor does it explain why he voted on the alternative report presented by the far-right wing of Parliament. .

Even if the actions of the Swedish Democrats no longer surprise me, they still anger me.

No moment can claim to protect democracy and the rule of law at home in Sweden, and dearly and sacredly promise that the party stands behind values ​​that are being ignored in Hungary, while at the same time running errands from anti-democratic governments in Europe the next.

It seems that the Swedish Democrats do not take seriously the fact that Orbán’s Hungary is destroying the values ​​that built a strong Europe – freedom, democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.

I refuse to take this development lightly.

Even if the Swedish Democrats do not understand the value of the rule of law and democracy, I expect anyway that they will see value in protecting Swedish taxpayer money.

Ensure that EU money payments to Hungary are halted until they comply with the principles of the rule of law.

But here too, as usual, the Swedish Democrats chose to vote “no” to stop throwing money into the pockets of Hungary’s corrupt politicians.

The European Union is a cooperation of free democracies. It is not an automated teller machine for autocrats like Orban and his corrupt cronies.

It’s time that the Swedish Democrats get behind this, too.

Karen CarlsbroughMEP for liberals

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