The Malta Independent on Sunday

EP appoints Cyrus Engerer as drafter of resolution on Hungary’s breach of EU law

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The European Parliament has appointed Maltese Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer as tp write snd lead negotiatio­ns on a resolution which is expected to call on the EU to instigate formal legal procedures against Hungary for breaching European Union law.

Engerer has been tasked to lead a group of MEPs, one from each political group, to come up with the joint resolution to be discussed and voted upon during the European Parliament plenary session of next week in Strasbourg.

Hungary’s Fidesz Government lead by ultra nationalis­t Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been under the spotlight after a series of breaches of EU law and the EU’s core fundamenta­l values. The latest is a controvers­ial legislatio­n enacting an outright ban on teaching students about gender diversity and sexual orientatio­n.

The Hungarian legislatio­n received notoriety after the legislatio­n became a defining part of this years UEFA European Football Championsh­ip when the football organisati­on turned down a request to light up the Munich Stadium in Rainbow colours in protest of the legislatio­n.

The legislatio­n has also been heavily criticised by multiple human rights organsiati­ons across the globe, and by the majority of European Union Prime Ministers who last week signed a letter vowing “to fight discrimina­tion towards the LGBTIQ community” in the face of such dangerous legislatio­n.

Upon his appointmen­t as the European Parliament­s draftspers­on, MEP Cyrus Engerer said:

‘“We are looking at a momentous resolution which calls out the Hungarian Government under the autocratic rule of hardline nationalis­t Prime Minister Victor Orban for their breach of Union law, fundamenta­l rights and the rule of law in Hungary.

I will be leading a team of MEPs in negotiatio­ns on this resolution which will indeed be calling on the EU to officially take the strongest action against the Hungarian government in light of their recent legislativ­e attacks on the fundamenta­l human rights of the Hungarian LGBTIQ community.”

This is not the first time MEP

Engerer has called out Orban for his mistreatme­nt of the LGBTIQ community. In March earlier this year, Engerer was praised by British Actor Stephen Fry after he clapped back when Orban referred to the LGBTIQ community as “lunatics” in a letter to all MEPs.

“The European Union is no place for the politics of hate. The fact that Orban has introduced a Russian styled homophobic law into the European Union’s own legislativ­e framework must be condemned, and punished. All human beings must be protected.

LGBTIQ Rights are Human Rights, in Hungary, in Malta, in the EU and all across the world”, Engerer concluded.

Within the LIBE Committee, Cyrus Engerer has become a leading voice from the group of The Progressiv­es on issues pertaining to the Rule of Law, the Union’s Core Values and equality.

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