Babiš will not meet Orbán on margins of EU Summit over his call for Jourová to resign

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš does not plan to speak with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán on the margins of the EU Summit starting Thursday regarding his call for EU Commissioner Věra Jourová, a Czech national, to resign for having said in an interview Orbán was “building a sick democracy”.

In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen published on Tuesday, Orbán wrote that his government had ended bilateral political contacts with Jourová, who also serves as vice president of the European Commission, following her “latest derogatory public statements” in the German weekly Der Spiegel.

In that interview, published the day for the EU Commission on Wednesday released its first-ever audit on rule-of-law and democratic issues, Jourová said “Mr. Orbán likes to say that he is building an illiberal democracy ... I would say: he’s building a sick democracy.” She has stood by her words but did not comment on Orbán’s letter.

Earlier, Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (Social Democrats) said she had his full support, as have the leaders of most parties in the Czech parliament. Babiš said before leaving for Brussels only that the EC must communicate with the government and parliament, not only with the opposition.

Author: Brian Kenety