He was speaking at the Global Media Forum 2017, organised by Deutsche Welle in Bonn on 19-21 June.

Deutsche Welle reports that the minister was criticising Hungary’s recent law which restricts the rights of NGOs, saying that Hungary was driving in the “democratic slow lane”. But the situation in Poland had also deteriorated, according to Asselborn. He said that he was talking about human rights and pleaded for more independence of NGOs on a recent visit to Cuba, but wondered: “How can I do that with any credibility if NGOs are hassled within the European Union as well?”

Populism and Brexit

Brexit had shown that populism was also widespread in Western European states, said Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister; “there wasn’t a real debate on the consequences of Brexit.” The recent parliamentary elections in the UK had at least shown that British citizens did not want a hard Brexit. Nevertheless, he added: “the Brexit vote has led to a lose-lose situation, which will damage both the UK and the EU.”