Thread by @astroehlein

Something quite fundamental changed at midnight: the European Union can no longer call itself a bloc of democracies.
theguardian.com/world/2020/mar…

A dictatorship emerges in Hungary, an EU member state, and the President of the @EU_Commission, @vonderleyen, issues a statement that doesn’t even mention Hungary...

Total abandonment of responsibility. And democracy.
ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…

What she could have said is: “I will use every power I have, political & institutional, to see that the new law is revoked asap, so that EU citizens in Hungary enjoy the same rights as all EU citizens. I did not take this job to help usher in a return to dictatorship in Europe.”

“That it should have come to this is an indictment of the EU, supposedly a community built on fundamental values.” - Financial Times editorial on Hungary becoming a dictatorship.
ft.com/content/0029e6…

"Orbán Exploits Coronavirus Pandemic to Destroy Hungary’s Democracy"
- @Judy_Dempsey @Carnegie_Europe
bit.ly/3aAo8Ci

“The European Union’s written response to Hungary’s effective suspension of democracy omitted one important word: Hungary.” - @nytimes
nytimes.com/2020/03/31/wor…

The @EU_Commission's non-response to Hungary's declaration of dictatorship was so awful, that the Hungarian ruling party's justice minister is applauding it...

The EU has been a unique and effective conflict-resolution mechanism that has used cooperation, democracy and human rights to bring peace and prosperity to a once ever-warring continent.

But propping up dictators will destroy all its success.

Coronavirus kills its first democracy, and @EU_Commission president @vonderleyen "proved unable to rise to the occasion."
bit.ly/2WYwT5l

Good to see that not everyone has been as cowardly as the Commission...

https://twitter.com/LotteLeicht1/status/1245230353469579266

If Ivan Krastev is right here, and Orbán is experimenting with what's possible in the new reality - "trying & testing to see what the market will take" - then the @EU_Commission has told Orbán (and every other chancer in the EU) that dictatorship is fine.
bit.ly/2xGkfNA

Is this for real? A joint statement on the issue by various EU member states that also fails to use the word "Hungary"?

Europe cannot fight the emergence of dictatorship in Hungary without using the word "Hungary".

https://twitter.com/ministerBlok/status/1245401454346674176

The current situation in the EU is completely unprecedented: there is a leader with unlimited power for an unlimited time in charge of a member state.

The EU is no longer a club of democratic states.

And our leaders cannot even name the problem?

Voldemort diplomacy will not save us.

My neighbour’s house is on fire. I won’t tell anyone the location of the house or call the fire brigade, but I will issue a statement that says: ”House fires are bad.” That should sort it all out.
#VoldemortDiplomacy

An EU member state becomes a dictatorship, and the rest of the EU fails to even mention it.

Has there ever been a greater crisis of democracy in the EU?