European Union member states meeting on October 21 to discuss Hungary's erosion of the rule of law should vote on whether Hungary is at risk of a serious breach of EU treaty values, Human Rights Watch said today.
As the Hungarian government intensifies its assault on judicial independence, free expression and assembly, and the rights of Hungarians, the EU Council of member states should finally take decisive action to hold Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's administration accountable.
"Hungary's government is systematically dismantling the rule of law and suppressing dissent under the guise of protecting national sovereignty," said Iskra Kirova, Europe and Central Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "EU member states should stop delaying and hold a vote under the article 7 rule of law procedure in order to defend the Union's core values before the situation deteriorates further."
Article 7 is the EU's most important instrument to address serious breaches of EU treaties and fundamental values. Since it was triggered by the European Parliament in 2018, the Hungarian government has only shown contempt for the process and its EU treaty obligations.
In recent months, the Hungarian parliament has passed sweeping constitutional amendments. They have allowed the government to restrict freedom of assembly and ban public lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) events, including Budapest Pride, under the guise of "child protection." The changes have also enabled the authorities to revoke some dual nationals' citizenship on vague national security grounds.
The government has since escalated its attacks on LGBT rights, banning Pride marches, deploying facial recognition surveillance tools against participants, and opening criminal investigations against local officials who supported the events.
A proposed "transparency of public life" bill would authorize the government-appointed Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO) to investigate, defund, and dissolve civil society and media organizations it labels "foreign-influenced," subjecting them to intrusive audits and punitive fines. While the government has currently paused the bill under intense domestic and EU criticism, it continues to restate its intention to introduce the measures in the bill.
Independent institutions and media continue to face targeted pressure by the authorities. Recent high-profile cases demonstrated persistent political interference in the judiciary with dismissals of judges over their criticism of the workings of judicial institutions.
The authorities harass and prosecute journalists and media owners, and the SPO-equipped with unchecked power to access data and investigate anyone-has carried out smear campaigns against independent media outlets, accusing them, without evidence, of serving foreign interests.
In July, the SPO targeted 500 EU funded groups, including the Helsinki Committee, Central European University, and the independent research organizations Political Capital and Republikon Institute, claiming they formed a "foreign-financed political pressure network" aimed at undermining Hungary's sovereignty.
A ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in an infringement case over Hungary's 2021 anti-LGBT "propaganda" law is imminent. The court is expediting another infringement case over Hungary's 2023 Defence of National Sovereignty Act, which established the punitive Sovereignty Protection Office. Eighteen billion Euros in EU funds remain frozen over rule of law concerns with some European Parliament members calling in May to suspend all funding for Hungary.
The European Commission is currently also examining the legality of Hungary's move in June to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) despite EU member states' legally binding commitments to respect the ICC treaty. ICC judges in July found that Hungary had violated its international legal obligations when it welcomed but failed to arrest Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC for alleged crimes committed in Gaza. EU member states should consider examining the withdrawal in the scope of the article 7 procedure.
Many EU member states have consistently denounced the Hungarian government's long-standing rule of law and EU treaty breaches, including most recently in a declaration by an unprecedented majority of 20 EU member states, rejecting Hungary's March ban on LGBT events and calling for a response by the Commission. But action in the EU Council has fallen short.
A vote under the current "preventive" stage of the procedure-requiring a majority of only a 4/5th of member states-allows the Council to determine a clear risk of a serious breach of EU treaty values and set out concrete and timebound recommendations to the Hungarian government. Should the authorities fail to implement these recommendations within the designated timeline, EU states should consider advancing to the sanctions stage to preserve the integrity of EU treaties and the fundamental values and rules upon which the EU was founded, Human Rights Watch said.
"Despite the continued systematic and well-documented breakdown in the rule of law in Hungary, the EU Council has for seven years repeatedly failed to take any concrete steps under article 7," Kirova said. "While infringement and financial restrictions remain important, article 7 is the only treaty instrument to comprehensively address the rule of law erosion in a member state and protect core EU interests."
