Tuesday

6th Jun 2023

Hungary 'no longer a full democracy', MEPs set to declare

  • French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield: 'In five years, if we have to do another report on Hungary, it means we don't have a functioning EU' (Photo: European Parliament)
Listen to article

The European Parliament is expected to say on Thursday (15 September) that Hungary can no longer be considered a full democracy.

But legal scholars warned the decision could create serious issues for the credibility of the parliament itself.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The draft resolution, set to be adopted on Thursday, says that the country has turned "into a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy" under prime minister Viktor Orbán.

While there have been worried reports and legal probes into Budapest for years, this is the first time an EU institution explicitly states that the EU member state is not a fully-blown democracy.

The adoption of the resolution is a follow-up to the 2018 parliament report on Hungary's democracy, which triggered the Article 7 sanctions procedure designed to discipline rule-breaking governments.

The new resolution says the "clear risk of a serious breach" of EU values has remained, which is the legal benchmark that could theoretically result in suspension of voting rights for Hungary.

The report also "condemns the deliberate and systemic efforts of the Hungarian government", led by Orbán, "undermine these founding values".

Several MEPs are also worried that Orbán's template might be contagious throughout Europe for other far-right governments, plus what it does to the functioning of the union.

"In five years, if we have to do another report on Hungary, it means we don't have a functioning EU," Green French MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, the lawmaker in charge of the report, said.

However, MEP Balázs Hidvéghi from Orbán's Fidesz party, dismissed the report.

He accused part of the parliament of continuing to "link up with the Hungarian left", saying it was "shameful" that in a time of crisis they carry out a "slanderous campaign against Hungary".

"You are not interested in reaching an agreement with Hungary, but you try to destroy it," he told fellow MEPs in the debate on Wednesday.

EU blamed too

The parliament's resolution will have little effect on the government of Orbán.

It puts part of the blame on the EU itself for the lack of "decisive" action which has "contributed to the breakdown in democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights".

Since the parliament triggered the Article 7 procedure in 2018, not much has happened in the council of member states.

According to Article 7, four-fifths of its member states "may determine that there is a clear risk of a serious breach" of EU values by a member states.

As a second step, the EU leaders by unanimity could decide on "the existence of a serious and persistent breach", which could entail the suspension of voting rights.

However, member states have not even set forward recommendations to Hungary on how to remedy the breach of values.

The EU Commission has launched several legal probes into different legislation by the Budapest government, and has not approved the Covid-19 recovery fund over rule-of-law concerns, but could do little to address the systematic problems.

It has triggered a new legal probe that links the disbursement of EU funds to the respect for the rule of law, where it concerns the distribution of EU subsidies.

Own goal?

John Morijn, a law and politics professor at the University of Groningen, told EUobserver the resolution might have bigger consequences for the parliament itself than for Hungary.

"It is a legal statement without being acknowledged as such by the European Parliament," he said.

The EU treaty says that the functioning of the union is founded on representative democracy, and that governments in the council should be democratically-accountable to their parliaments and citizens, Morijn recalled.

"If you say that one of 27 no longer fulfils the criteria of being a member of the EU, then the EU as a whole can no longer function as it should according to the EU treaty," he said.

"This is a serious statement," Morijn added.

"Decisions of the 27 are taken by 27 democratic countries," MEP Delbos-Corfield said in Wednesday's debate, adding: "If you have a fake democracy that would put us in difficult spot, because decision by the council effect the daily lives of all citizens."

In 2024 Hungary will take over the EU's rotating presidency, meaning it will be in charge of negotiations in the council.

"The EU meetings will be led by a country that does not fulfil the basic requirement as a representative democracy, which is highly problematic," Morijn said.

He added that if nothing happens with Hungary until the 2024 European parliamentary elections, it can also "pollute the legitimacy and the legality of the composition" of the new parliament, which is a co-legislator in the EU.

Hungary tries to unblock EU funds with new anti-graft body

Budapest's move is aimed at unblocking EU funds — as Hungary's government is under increasing pressure, from rising inflation and energy prices, coupled with a sinking forint, to come to an agreement with the commission.

EU Commission proposes freezing 65% of funds to Hungary

The freezing, the first time in the EU's history using the conditionality mechanism linking EU subsidies to the respect of the rule of law, would suspend money from the bloc's cohesion funds under the 2021-27 long-term budget.

Latest News

  1. Final steps for EU's due diligence on supply chains law
  2. Top EU court rules Poland's court reforms 'infringe law'
  3. Sweden's far-right is most anti-Green Deal party in EU
  4. Strengthening recovery, resilience and democracy in regions, cities and villages
  5. Why Hungary cannot be permitted to hold EU presidency
  6. Subcontracting rules allow firms to bypass EU labour rights
  7. Asylum and SLAPP positions in focus This WEEK
  8. Spanish PM to delay EU presidency speech due to snap election

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us