Orban: EU lawmakers’ democracy declaration is a joke

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has lashed out at the European parliament’s declaration that Hungary can no longer be considered a full democracy, saying that the  resolution is “a joke.” European Union lawmakers on Thursday declared that Hungary has become “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy” under the leadership of Orban’s nationalist government, and that its undermining of the bloc’s democratic values had taken Hungary out of the community of democracies. In a resolution that passed 433-to-123 with 28 abstentions, the parliamentarians raised concerns about Hungary’s constitutional and electoral systems, judicial independence, possible corruption, public procurement irregularities, LGBTQ+ rights, as well as media, academic and religious freedoms.