Hungary’s rule of law crisis is deepening, Civil Liberties Committee MEPs warn 

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• Second interim report on Hungary’s persistent breaches of EU values since Parliament activated Article 7 procedure in 2018 
• MEPs push Council for sanctions and Commission for action on new legal options 
• Ongoing concerns include judicial interference, corruption, misuse of EU funds, and attacks on civil society 

Warning of persistent threats to the rule of law in Hungary and the continuing deterioration of common values, Civil Liberties MEPs have reiterated their calls for EU action.

On Wednesday, the Committee on Civil Liberties adopted its second interim report on the Article 7 procedure that Parliament triggered in 2018, by 51 votes in favour, 21 votes against, and two abstentions. The MEPs took stock of their original 12 areas of concern, in light of the lack of progress in the Council.

High time to move from prevention to sanctions

The report stresses that the situation, which threatens the entirety of the Union’s values and its legal order, has continued to deteriorate, noting that the Council’s inaction has contributed to this. Hungary has become a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”, the MEPs say, calling once again for the activation of the procedure under Article 7(2) TEU. They also point to the recent opinion of EU Court of Justice Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta confirming that infringement proceedings can be filed “in cases where the negation of a value is the root cause of other breaches of EU law”, and urge the Commission to seize this opportunity should the Court confirm the reasoning.

An array of worrying trends and developments

Among issues relating to European values, the MEPs point to:

• reviews of EU Court judgments by the Kúria (Hungary’s supreme court), in contravention of EU treaties and legal doctrine;
• the link between corruption and electoral integrity, including clientelist networks;
• persistent obstacles faced by the Integrity Authority, potentially putting at risk the entirety of EU funds allocated to Hungary;
• threats to judicial independence, and the Commission’s decision to release cohesion funds (challenged by Parliament), as well as Hungary’s systematic refusal to implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights; and
• the need to ensure that the final recipients of EU funds, including civil society, are not deprived of financial support.

Other issues include the government’s systematic weakening of the National Judicial Council, its failure to uphold the rights of its citizens, its threats to academic freedom, its politically motivated business practices, its allocation of state advertising to government-friendly outlets, and its de facto constitutional ban on Pride marches.

The report condemns Hungary’s repeated use of its Council veto as leverage, as well as its transactional use of budgetary instruments and the existence of loopholes potentially allowing it to circumvent Conditionality Regulation restrictions. It also raises the Commission’s investigation into alleged Hungarian espionage within EU institutions.

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Rapporteur Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, NL) commented: “The lack of decisive action by the Commission and the Council against Hungary has allowed a continuous erosion of democracy and the rule of law. The EU cannot allow Hungary’s autocratization to continue. Any further delay by the Council would violate the very values it claims to uphold.”

Next steps

The report will be the subject of a debate and a vote at the 24 – 27 November plenary session in Strasbourg.