Hungary is not Romania

"The handling of recent plagiarism cases is another point of difference. When it was revealed that Ponta had copied more than half of his doctoral thesis without attribution, a committee was set up to investigate. The committee was virtually dissolved before it could reach its inevitable conclusion. Hungary also set up a special committee to investigate the doctoral thesis of President Pál Schmitt. The committee was left to conduct its inquiry without interruption, and the president resigned after its findings were announced.

The Hungarian government endured a barrage of criticism across Europe; time has shown that very few of the criticisms had any validity. Those who criticised the democratic commitment of Hungary should now prove that their comments were not politically motivated.

They can do this by holding to account Romania, where democratic institutions really are threatened. They should be urging the European institutions to intervene, as they did with Hungary. And they should be asking the left-wing groupings in the European Parliament why they are continuing to veto a debate on Romania in the current plenary session, when those same groups fell over themselves to put forward critical resolutions about the Hungarian government.

It would be gratifying to see some balance. At a time when Europe is undergoing the deepest crisis since its foundation, it is shameful to see such double standards on display."