Regarding Hungary’s previous amendments to its constitution, Trócsányi, a former substitute member of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, said he did not agree with that institution’s stance on the amendments. He said those amendments were later modified as a result of internal political debates, insisting that regulating a country’s judicial system, migration policy and media laws were national competencies.

Asked about the EU’s “rule of law mechanism” which was activated for the first time in the bloc’s history at the beginning of the year for investigating Poland, the minister said the EU should take into account its member states’ unique characteristics.

“Nobody in Brussels is investigating France for declaring a nationwide state of emergency” after last November’s Paris attacks, Trócsányi said, warning of the dangers of applying double standards to new and old member states. Trócsányi, at the same time, said he thought it was “out of the question” that the European Council would revoke Poland’s voting rights.

“Something like this would have very bad consequences for the future of the EU as a whole.” Concerning the European Parliament’s upcoming vote on a resolution on the state of Poland’s constitutional court, Trócsányi told the paper that “the Poles can always trust the Hungarians”.

The minister said he was delighted to hear that Poland would support Hungary’s lawsuit challenging mandatory migrant quotas in the European Court of Justice. He said the EU should take into account member states’ characteristics and history when dealing with the migrant crisis.

Hungary wants to participate in resolving the crisis by helping the war-torn Middle Eastern countries and protecting Europe’s external borders, he insisted.

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