In a new report adopted on Wednesday, the European Parliament is particularly critical of the Hungarian government’s “deliberate and systematic” attempts to undermine European values. The state of the rule of law in Hungary has only gotten worse in recent years, and the European Union itself bears the blame for this, it sounds sharp.
The Civil Liberties Committee approved the update of the acclaimed 2018 Sargentini report by a large majority. It was on the basis of that report, named after the then MEP Judith Sargentini (GreenLeft), that the European Parliament decided to open Article 7 proceedings against Hungary. Ultimately, this could result in the country suspending its voting rights in the Council.
Despite this, the rule of law has not improved in Hungary over the past four years, quite the contrary. MPs say the country now has a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”. The reign of Prime Minister Viktor Orban raises concerns about, among other things, the functioning of the constitutional and electoral system, the independence of the judiciary and other institutions, corruption and conflicts of interest, freedom of expression, LGBTIQ rights, the rights of minorities and the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
Debt
The Orban government is therefore making “deliberate and systematic” attempts to undermine European values, says Parliament. The Council, the institution that represents the EU Member States, is to blame, it is said, because it is doing nothing to stop the decline of democracy in Hungary. After all, it is the Council that has to deal with the Article 7 procedure, but nowhere does it say that unanimity is required to identify a serious risk of a violation of European values or to set concrete recommendations and deadlines, the MEPs argue. They warn that the Council itself threatens to violate the rule of law if it procrastinates any longer.
In turn, the European Commission is called upon to use all the resources at its disposal, in the first place the rule of law mechanism that could result in a suspension of European subsidies to Budapest. In April, the Commission already decided to use this new mechanism against Hungary, but so far this has not resulted in sanctions. Parliament also asks the Commission not to approve Hungary’s recovery plan for the time being and to exclude the country from certain cohesion programmes.
Just today/Wednesday, the Commission is presenting a new report on the state of the rule of law in the different EU countries. Looking forward to what she has to say about Hungary and about Poland, that other worry child.
In September, the European Parliament plenary will debate and vote on the Hungary report, which has now been adopted in committee. “This is no longer tenable, we now expect action and will once again put the Council and the Commission on fire during the plenary session”, Hilde Vautmans (Open VLD) already announced.
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