New Democracy to vote against Hungary in European Parliament

Greece's Conservatives will support possible disciplinary action against Hungary in the European Parliament which is debating whether the country has breached core EU values, party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement on Tuesday.

The European Parliament is discussing whether to activate the so-called Article 7 that could lead to sanctions against Hungary.

Mitsotakis’s party, New Democracy, is in the same conservative bloc in the European Parliament as Orban’s, the European People’s Party (EPP).

“New Democracy will vote in favour of the Sargentini report calling on the European Parliament to activate the envidaged sanctions procedure against Hungary, in accordance with Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union,” he said.

“We will not accept compromises on the core of our democratic values and principles.”

ND sources said this position is a response to repeated criticism by ruling SYRIZA over the party's alleged ideological identification with the government of Viktor Orban.

Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini wrote a report on Hungary expressing concerns over corruption and outlining attacks against the media and minorities and an increased control over the judiciary.