Budapest, June 14 (MTI) – Fidesz Chairman Viktor Orban on Saturday called on the chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party (HSP) to take a stand against Hungarian law violations with respect to human rights.

Orban, Chairman of the opposition Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance and former prime minister (1998-2002), was replying to a letter addressed to him on Friday by HSP Chairman and Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs, who called on him to prove the accusations which he "pushed to have passed" by the Christian Democrat International (CDI).

The CDI executive committee passed a resolution at its Lisbon session on June 4, in which it condemned Hungary for the violation of fundamental political and civic rights, on the proposal of Fidesz.

"We are convinced that the prevailing Hungarian governments are obliged to do their utmost to fully enforce human rights. I hope that in spite of the differences that exist between us regarding principles, ideals and order of values, we agree in this," Orban wrote.

"Therefore, I call on you, as Chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party, to do everything in order to eliminate the violations of human rights, and for the government to fully respect human rights," runs the letter.

Orban states several Hungarian and international organisations, including the European People's Party, had raised their voices because human rights were not, in certain cases, enforced appropriately in the past year.

"Fidesz had also raised its voice in Parliament on several occasion in connection with these concrete issues and for enforcing human rights," he wrote.

Orban wrote Hungarian citizens have the right to assembly, to demonstrate, to make banners and leaflets, to know what is going on in the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, and to have a poor opinion about the prevailing prime minister.

"It violates the rights of people if their tax data are copied, if state companies are ordered to choose the dailies in which they want to advertise on a political, rather than a business basis, if attacks are launched against various constitutionally independent institutions," the Fidesz chairman wrote.

He adds Fidesz discussed the state of human rights at its last congress because "it is the interest of us all that these phenomena be eliminated".

"The enforcement of human rights cannot be considered the internal affair of any single country in Europe, and this has been the case for decades. It thus is understandable that international attention is focused on human rights issues," Orban wrote in his letter to Foreign Minister Kovacs.

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