"I welcome Commissioner Reding's confirmation that further cases of infringement will be examined if the answers from Hungary are not satisfactory," said ALDE group Leader Guy Verhofstadt during today's debate on recent developments in Hungary, in the presence of the other EU institutions and Prime Minister Orban.

"Apart from the issues on which the Commission has already launched an infringement procedure against Hungary, there are many more concerns related to fundamental questions  mainly on Articles 2 and 4 of the Treaty dealing with basic principles and values, which need an evaluation."

"If the Hungarian government, as well as the political forces on the right of the EP, are so convinced that there is nothing wrong with the country's new constitution or the cardinal laws currently being adopted, they shouldn't be afraid of an EU assessment under Article 7 of the Treaty",

Renate Weber (PNL, Romania) ALDE Coordinator in the Civil liberties committee said:

"Let's be honest, no accession country would be allowed to join the EU if the situation would be similar to the one in Hungary today. A country where the national Parliament has become an annex to a single ruling political party, or where a highly respected Constitutional Court has been transformed into a weightless body and again where the written press is dominated by self-censorship, the audio-visual media is under political control and radio frequencies are conferred in an arbitrary fashion". 

"Article 7 paragraph 1 must be seen as a normal procedure provided by our own Treaty to defend EU fundamental principles, values and rights. Fighting for them this time in Hungary would prove to any other Member States that we are ready to fight for their full respect in the whole European Union", she concluded.