Wake up Europe! Taking action to safeguard the European democratic project

The legal act requested of the European Commission is to refer the situation in Hungary to the Council, in accordance with Article 7 TEU, in order to safeguard European values as defined in Article 2 TEU. Since taking power in 2010, Viktor Orbán's government has overseen an increase in antidemocratic, xenophobic measures that run counter to the founding principles of the rule of law. This is liable to undermine the EU project as defined in Article 2 TEU. In addition, the unacceptable treatment of migrants by the Hungarian authorities raises the fear that similar steps may be taken by other Member States where democratic culture is recent and fragile.