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EU Questions Hungary Over Rule of Law Concerns

Reuters

   BRUSSELS - European Union ministers grilled Hungary on Monday over
   Prime Minister Viktor Orban's tightening of restrictions around free
   media, judges, academics, minorities and rights groups, which the bloc
   worries weakens democracy in the ex-communist country.

   A year after the European Parliament said Orban's actions carried "a
   clear risk of a serious breach" of core EU values, ministers met in
   Brussels for a first formal hearing on Hungary.

   "The EU is like a family in many regards. And in a family there has to
   be a common set of rules ... otherwise it cannot work. And rule of law
   is a foundation of that," said Austria's EU affairs minister Alexander
   Schallenberg.

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