The Tories are propping up Hungary's far-right authoritarian government – but it's nothing to do with Brexit, honest

Theresa May's Tory MEPs are planning to protect Viktor Orban from an important European Parliament vote tomorrow. It's something we should all be ashamed of

Theresa May invited Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban to Downing Street in 2016 shortly after she became prime minister (Getty)

Say what you like about it, but it’s not about Brexit. It’s about the bureaucrats in Brussels, or the fake news media, or being able to allocate funds wherever you like, or perhaps the will of the Hungarian people. But it’s definitely, definitely not about Brexit.

That’s what the Tories have said about their planned vote – plans which they confirmed today to The Independent – against triggering a little-known and little-discussed piece of EU legislation known as Article 7 in the European Parliament tomorrow.

Article 7, put simply, is a procedure that can lead to the suspension of the rights of an EU member state if that state’s government has been seen to be dangerously misbehaving. It’s a law which, if invoked, opens the door to beginning a three-step process which would first issue a formal warning to Hungary about violating the EU’s fundamental values of “liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law” (that’s Article 7.1), and then, if that warning wasn’t heeded, call them back to the European Council (7.2) and impose sanctions and possibly suspend the country’s voting rights (7.3).

This is as close as you can get, under current EU law, to threatening to boot out a country altogether.

In practice, the legislation moves so slowly and demands so much of its members (two thirds of MEPs have to vote in favour of triggering Article 7, at which point the European Council also has to take a decision by a four-fifths majority in order for anything further to happen) that it’s little more than a gigantic slap on the wrist.

But if it is invoked against Hungary, that slap on the wrist could be easily rebranded as EU arrogance – Brussels extending its reach into places where it shouldn’t yet again – and “proof", should the Brexiteers decide they need it, that the union is more interested in controlling than empowering its members.

What has Hungary, or more specifically Hungary’s government, headed by the controversial prime minister Viktor Orban, done to deserve such a radical reaction?

Some might remember the law that criminalised helping asylum seekers (or “facilitating illegal immigration”) which was introduced in July as a response to the refugee crisis. Considering that Orban had referred to migrants as “poison” and “Muslim invaders” by that point, few were surprised by the so-called “Stop Soros” law (Orban has a particular dislike for George Soros, and Hungary’s government newspaper Magyar Idok has published claims that “Soros activists” wanted to provoke civil unrest). Razor-wire border fences had already been erected around the country in 2015 in response to fleeing refugees from Syria. Over the last few months, organisations seen to ideologically “support immigration” (particularly charities) have been vandalised and demonised by the Hungarian press.

Orban has repeatedly professed his disdain for liberal democracy. After his most recent landslide victory, he said that he was concerned with supporting “the traditional family model of one man and one woman”. He has complained about Europe being “de-Christianised”, or “Islamised”. He wants “Europe to be for Europeans.” For some, he is seen as bringing back power to the people, returning sovereignty to Hungary; making Hungary great again, if you will, by restoring Hungarian control of the banking sector, putting pressure on foreign NGOs, and turning the free press into a perpetually-optimistic government propaganda vehicle.

This final charge is particularly concerning to the EU, as well as the suspicions about election spending, allegations of distributing EU funds to family and friends, and interference in the judicial system (the last one being the reason Article 7 was invoked for the first time, ever, against Poland in December 2017).

Put together, these make a case that is certainly as strong, if not stronger, than the case made for using Article 7 against Poland a few months ago – but this time members of our own government don’t want it to go through.

Theresa May’s MEPs are set to protect Orban tomorrow and they want everyone to know that it’s absolutely, definitely not about Brexit. It’s probably just because the Tories are so popular right now that they can afford to take risks with how they’re perceived by the public. Or because they’re so stable that rocking the boat a little internally won’t matter. Or because the EU negotiations are going so well that they don’t need to consider the reactions of their European counterparts. Perhaps a combination of the three?

It’s probably nothing – absolutely nothing at all – to do with the fact that the last time Tory MEPs teamed up with far-right European politicians to protect Orban’s authoritarian government in June, Hungary’s foreign minister started publicly talking about the need for EU countries to give Britain a good Brexit deal. I’m sure we can all rest easy at night in the assurance that now Britain is scrabbling round to make alliances anywhere it can in the face of a potentially economically catastrophic exit from the EU, we definitely won’t compromise any of our values by backing up or entering into deals with shady characters working to make the world a less moral or compassionate place.

What this vote over Hungary’s future in the European Parliament should remind us this week is what the EU stands for. Scallop wars, eco-friendly lightbulbs and bendy bananas aside, this is an institution that puts up red tape for a reason – red tape that controls the worst impulses of governments, restrains warmongering and international irresponsibility, and that takes power away from people who patently abuse it.

That’s why the Brexiteers’ rebranding of “red tape from Brussels” as universally unnecessary bleeding-heart do-gooder stuff is so incredibly toxic. When you disregard red tape entirely, you can easily end up supporting something you might never have intended.

“Voting with Orban is the true Tory Brexit: the exit from European values. A sad day,” said senior liberal MEP Sophie in ’t Veld this morning. It’s a sad day for the EU, and it’s a sad day for Britain. And if Brexit carries on going the way it’s going, there will be plenty of mutual tragedies ahead.