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A core principle of any democracy is free and fair elections. Under Viktor Orbán's (right) leadership, this democratic norm has dramatically eroded. Electoral laws have been manipulated, gerrymandering is rife and media pluralism has been suppressed (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

Why Hungary cannot be permitted to hold EU presidency

Last Thursday the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to express its concern over Hungary's scheduled presidency of the EU Council.

The deplorable state of Hungarian democracy is by now widely known. Since 2010, prime minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party have systematically undermined the principles and institutions that underpin democratic governance.

They have worked to curtail EU values such as academic freedom, gender equality and LGBTI+ rights, most recently in t...

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The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Samira Rafaela is a Dutch MEP with Renew Europe. Tom Theuns is senior assistant professor of political theory and European politics at Leiden University and associate researcher at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics, Sciences Po Paris.

A core principle of any democracy is free and fair elections. Under Viktor Orbán's (right) leadership, this democratic norm has dramatically eroded. Electoral laws have been manipulated, gerrymandering is rife and media pluralism has been suppressed (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

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Author Bio

Samira Rafaela is a Dutch MEP with Renew Europe. Tom Theuns is senior assistant professor of political theory and European politics at Leiden University and associate researcher at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics, Sciences Po Paris.

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