Rule-of-law issues have emerged after the European Parliament changed procedural rules in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, Fidesz-KDNP MEPs said in a statement.
The changes adopted ten months after the outbreak by the EP contravenes EU treaties, the Fidesz EP group said, adding that they refused to support the new rules. The statement noted that the EP has conducted much of its business online since March, with remote votes and MEPs exercising their general rights digitally. But since the procedural rules do not allow for telecommuting, the EP’s constitutional affairs committee drafted an amendment to accommodate this situation, and the EP adopted it in a plenary on Thursday under the same system of remote voting. EP procedural rules do not allow for an amendment thereof by electronic vote, yet the EP voted in accordance with the same legally questionable procedure whose very purpose was to eliminate irregularities in the voting method, the statement said, adding that this violated the rule of law based on “legal certainty, predictability and the spirit of the treaties”.
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