Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for the resignation of European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová after calling Hungary an “ill democracy.”
“Mr. Orbán likes to say that he is building an illiberal democracy,” Jourová told Spiegel in an interview published Friday.
“According to the Vice President, in Hungary, a ‘sick democracy’ is being built, and in addition, she insulted EU citizens of Hungarian nationality by saying that they are not in a position to form an independent opinion,” Orban wrote in a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen published on Tuesday.
Jourová “has to resign!” tweeted Varga, a member of Viktor Orbán’s government who holds both the justice and European affairs files.
@VeraJourova has to resign! No democratic institution should tolerate a leader who uses such insults as she did in her Spiegel interview. Defining Hungary as a sick democracy humiliates Hungarian people, contradicts European values and brings shame upon the @EU_Commission!
— Judit Varga (@JuditVarga_EU) September 28, 2020
Věra Jourová has been the Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency since 1 December 2019 and previously served as the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers, and Gender Equality from 2014 to 2019.
She has also served as the Czech Minister for Regional Development and Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) between 2013 and 2014.
In 2019, Time magazine ranked Jourová in a list of 100 most influential people of the year.
