One week ago, the European Union ceased being a bloc of democracies, as Hungary’s ruler seized unlimited power in his country.

Since then, the other EU member states and the European Commission have done nothing about it.

In fact, they've done less than nothing: they've covered themselves in shame. Both a group of member states and the Commission issued empty, general statements about it that didn't even mention Hungary. The states' one was so bland that even Hungary signed up to it.

EU member state leaders and the European Commission thus became an international laughing stock.

Rather than be seen as defenders of democracy, they chose to become the butt of jokes.

There's an outright dictatorship within the EU. Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has seized unlimited power for an indefinite period of time.

That the rest of the EU doesn't care enough to act is a threat to the very EU itself.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/01/hungarys-authoritarian-takeover-puts-european-union-risk

Other wannabe dictators within the EU have watched the non-response to Hungary's declaration of dictatorship and have surely noted European leaders' fecklessness.

Without determined resistance, copycats will be coming soon.

Which EU member state will be next to fall?

And given the bigotry of low expectations when it comes to the EU's central European members - "you know what those new members are like..." - will the European Union only wake up when it happens in a west European country?

#COVID19:

There's a huge difference between…

responsible governments enacting temporary, science-based measures to protect public health while respecting human rights, and

authoritarian-minded politicians using this crisis to grab more power.
https://www.hrw.org/tag/coronavirus