[spectre] Hungary's crackdown on refugees

[Janos Sugar]

Hungary's crackdown on refugees is shredding the values of democracy.

By Kim Lane Scheppele

With refugees skirting a razor-wire fence to 
enter the country, overflowing the Keleti station 
in Budapest, forced into closed migrant camps and 
hiking in desperation along the highways to 
Vienna, the Hungarian government's brutal 
treatment of migrants has been on display for all 
to see. It is about to get much worse.
/.../
The Hungarian government's disregard for the 
rights of refugees presages its disregard for the 
rights of its own citizens. Over the last five 
years, the Hungarian government has eliminated 
nearly all checks on its power and is now using 
the refugee crisis to usher in a state of 
emergency, and accelerate plans to turn the 
country into a surveillance state.
While EU institutions have looked on, horrified 
but paralyzed, Prime Minister Orbán has created a 
creeping dictatorship in Hungary. In plain sight, 
the Hungarian government is shredding the values 
of democracy, human rights and rule of law, 
values on which the European Union was built. As 
a state of emergency looms in Hungary, now is the 
time to invoke Article 7 of the Treaty of the 
European Union, quarantining Hungary by removing 
its voting rights in EU matters. It's the least 
the EU can do to show solidarity - not only with 
refugees, but also with the EU citizens of 
Hungary.
http://www.politico.eu/article/orbans-police-state-hungary-serbia-border-migration-refugees/