“Every Hungarian MEP has a duty to support Budapest’s bid for the seat of CEPOL”

'The question of the seat of CEPOL has become an inter-institutional dispute, in which the respective competences of the Council and EP should be settled. All the more so, because there has never been an instance where the EP decided which candidate for a seat of an agency had the better application. The legitimacy of the Council decision concerning CEPOL's seat in Budapest shall be unequivocal. The Hungarian application was the best, hence the unanimous decision of the Council' – said Kinga Gál MEP during the debate.
 
'At the same time, no one has masked his or her true character during today's debate. Again, Rui Tavares as well as Kinga Göncz, has made use of this issue regarding the seat of CEPOL to slam the Hungarian Government. Rui Tavares, who a couple of days ago was trying to undermine the candidacy of Budapest in a letter, during the debates proposed to make the decision on CEPOL's seat contingent upon the democratic devotion of Hungary's Government.
 
It is outrageous that Kinga Göncz, who was a minister of the government under which the police brutally attacked peacefully commemorating citizens, tries to calm her fellow MEPs by implying that by the time CEPOL is located in Budapest, there will be a new government in Hungary; a government which gives more respect to democracy and to the rule of law.
 
It is Hungary's best interest that the seat of CEPOL be located in Budapest. Hungary has put forth the best application, and that is why without regard to one's party affiliation it is the duty of all Hungarian MEPs to actively support the candidacy, and we expect just this from the socialists as well' – emphasised Kinga Gál MEP.