About 120 members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg have signed a petition to strip Hungary of its voting rights in the European Union, influential Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa said on Friday.

Article 7 allows the bloc to suspend membership for "persistent violation" of the bloc's values of human rights, democracy, equality and the rule of law. If a third of the European Commission and a two-thirds majority in the 705-member parliament agree, a "qualified majority" can suspend a bloc member's rights, including voting rights in the European Council.

Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa launched the petition earlier this week and has so far collected 120 signatures, he said Friday on his microblog on X.

Sarvamaa has accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of "holding the EU hostage over aid to Ukraine" and insists that stripping him of his rights is "the only way to protect the values of the European Union and to ensure the functioning of decision-making processes" in the bloc.

"It would also send a signal to all member states that the EU will not tolerate any deviation from the rule of law or violation of the principle of sincere cooperation," he said. - Our main task is to protect the European way of life and democracy."