Why does Hillary Clinton criticize the Conservatives?

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Hillary Clinton has criticized conservative MEPs for opposing Hungary's censorship by the European Union of alleged attacks on the media, minorities and the rule of law.

Last month, the European Parliament approved disciplinary measures against the government of Viktor Orban, who denied any violation of his "core values".

The Conservatives voted against the motion, saying that they did not want to interfere in Hungary's "internal democracy".

But the former first lady of the United States, Mrs. Clinton, called the decision "discouraging".

The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights of the University of Oxford .

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In a broad speech on Tuesday, Clinton said: "It is discouraging to see the Brussels Conservatives vote to protect Viktor Orban from censorship, including British Conservatives.

"They have come a long way since the time of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill."

Since taking office, Mr Orban's government has taken a strong stance against immigration, criminalizing the fact that lawyers and activists help asylum seekers.

He urged two-thirds of the European Parliament to support disciplinary measures, while reports indicate pressure on Hungarian courts and the electoral system.

British Conservative MPs supported the Hungarian government, saying that the EU had introduced purely national issues.

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Then Secretary of the Environment, Michael Gove, told the BBC that this did not amount to an endorsement by Orban, saying that MPs respected a "long-standing principle" of sovereignty.

In her speech, Clinton described Hungarian democracy as a "masquerade", saying "a non-liberal democracy is a contradiction in terms".

"Democracy also demands freedom of expression and a free press, the rule of law and an independent judiciary.Without these elements, an illiberal democracy is not a democracy, it is simply a matter of democracy. authoritarianism under another name. "

& # 39; Sowing chaos & # 39;

Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential race to Donald Trump, told the audience that her US administration has been "hostile to civil rights."

"The president is degrading the rule of law, delegitimizing our elections, spreading corruption, undermining our national unity and discrediting the truth, the facts and the reason itself," he said. she said.

"Our divisions even make us targets for foreign manipulation, which seeks to sow chaos and oppose each other."

She described the new threats "at the intersection of technology and autocracy" and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using hackers and propagandists to advance a program of Far right.

"The whole world now knows that Putin is conducting a cyber war and manipulating social media to influence elections and referendums, as well as to polarize and paralyze Western democracies," she added.

On Monday, Mrs. Clinton unveiled a statue at the Bonavero Institute paying tribute to the human rights of the First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt, in wartime.