In a non-binding resolution on 1 June 2023, the European Parliament repeatedly expressed concerns over the fact that Hungary breaches EU values. They have further deteriorated due to “deliberate and systematic efforts of the government” and despite Parliament’s activation of the Article 7 mechanism.
“European Parliament resolution of 12 September 2018 on a proposal calling on the Council to determine, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union, the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded.”
Their latest concerns relate to laws being adopted without sufficient parliamentary scrutiny and public consultation. Furthermore, the misuse of whistleblower protection, undermining LGBTIQ+ rights and freedom of expression and the infringement of teachers’ social and labour rights.
The Government in Budapest ignored the rulings of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) despite a November 2021 ruling to amend its so-called “Stop Soros” laws designed to prevent aid being given to asylum seekers. It ignores the demand to change the rules in the transit zones on its border with Serbia despite a CJEU ruling in December 2020. The Commission referred Hungary to the Court to seek financial penalties, but the Court has not yet issued a judgement. The Commission also referred a case to the CJEU in December 2022 against the so-called Child Protection Act, which is considered to violate LGBT fundamental rights.
However, the new Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2021-2027, agreed at the end of 2020, provided for a new instrument. It introduced budgetary conditionality for breaches of the rule of law, and so-called “enabling conditions” on which the payment of cohesion funds depends. From the outset of its budget design, for the period till 2027, the European Union has equipped itself with the means to link the budgetary tool to the rule of law toolkit.
The European Commission triggered the mechanism on 27 April 2022 against Hungary, observing ‘a systemic inability, failure or unwillingness on the part of the Hungarian authorities to prevent decisions that are in breach of the applicable law, as regards public procurement and conflicts of interest, and thus to adequately tackle risks of corruption‘. The procedure ended on 15 December with the suspension of 6.3 billion €, equivalent to 55% of the EU funds earmarked for Hungary in the three cohesion policy programmes that operate through public procurement.
Judicial independence
On 22 December 2022, the Commission approved the partnership agreement with Hungary which sets judicial independence as a horizontal condition, ie one that could justify the suspension of the entire €22 billion cohesion programme. It makes the disbursement of funds conditional on the implementation of the 27 super-milestones. An up to date assessment of whether the government has reached milestones by three NGOs is critical of achievements.
The EU also set out a series of specific enabling conditions for several programmes, notably in the areas of LGBT rights and asylum. The Commission is trying through conditionality to obtain the changes that Hungary has so far refused to make via legal action before the ECJ.
Hungary is a textbook case of how the EU can deploy the different types of conditionality at its disposal, with the country potentially risking a total loss of almost €30 billion by 2027, which constitutes 1/5th of its 2022 GDP.
Hungary and the war in Ukraine
Hungary became a member of NATO in 1999, and a member of the EU in 2004. Hungary also has improved its often frosty neighbourly relations by signing basic treaties with Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. These renounce all outstanding territorial claims and lay the foundation for constructive relations.
A poster of Viktor Orbán, with the slogan “steal”, amended with a Post-It to make it “suck” Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from Pixabay
However, despite the measures which reduced the amount of cohesion funds released by the European Union, Hungarian leadership seems to become more radical in its opposition to the objectives, values and interests of the EU. This is evident in the closeness shown to Russia, Belarus and China, as well as in repeated blockages in the discussions on sanctions against Russia due to the war in Ukraine. The leadership also resists any aid to Ukraine travelling through Hungary. This pro- Russian stance puts Hungary and Poland at loggerheads in the Visegrad 4 group.
Orbán has started a campaign in which he accuses the opposition of warmongering. The video shown excludes Crimea from the map of Ukraine and demands an end to the killings of children. Government media accuses Ukraine, the EU and NATO of causing the war. Unbelievable, as it sounds, I have friends who believe the propaganda. Ukraine’s Budapest embassy issued a verbal complaint about Orbán presenting Crimea as Russian territory.
Hungary against WHO and EU
Hungary is increasingly disregarding its obligations as a member of a political community and of its values. The Commission reacted with a referral of Hungary to the Court of Justice in February 2023 after the country voted twice against the EU’s position at the World Health Organisation.
“At the end of a three-day visit with Hungarian public officials, NGOs and journalists, European lawmakers praised Hungary’s progress on some rule-of-law issues but pointed out several shortcomings, which they will pass on to the Commission. They also praised Hungary’s efforts to strengthen judicial independence and hailed the establishment of the country’s Integrity Authority, a new anti-corruption body.
Exterior of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg. Image by Erich Westendarp from Pixabay
“The Parliament has no say on whether the Commission will unfreeze cohesion and post-pandemic recovery funds for Hungary but it has repeatedly urged the EU’s executive to harden its stance.
“Hohlmeier, a German centre-right MEP, accused the Hungarian government of handing public tenders to friendly businesses while using measures such as special taxes and last-minute emergency legislation to undermine competition.
“Let me remind you that Hungary is a member of the EU single market and in the single market, there can be no discrimination of companies, they all must have the same rights and the same obligations,” added Hohlmeier.”
Hungarian students cut off from Erasmus and Horizon
The EU Council confirmed in January this year that it cut off 21 universities from Erasmus and Horizonfunds. The decision affects all educational institutions operated as so-called ‘public trust foundations’ or maintained by foundations. Since 2021, the Hungarian government has brought 34 institutions under the control of these funds, whose governing bodies contain members closely linked to the country’s PM, and his political party Fidesz,according to the human rights organisation the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. Around 80% of universities in Hungary are now linked to a public trust fund.
These public trust foundations are part of a series of steps taken by the PM to control knowledge and information in the country. These have included the creation of an umbrella foundation in charge of over 500 media outlets and the transfer of many of the country’s major research institutes to a state linked network.
Before that, in 2018, large parts of the Central European University were driven out of Hungary on the back of a law targeting foreign-owned campuses.
In terms of the impact, the Hungarian newspaper Népszava reported that some 22,622 Hungarian nationals participated in Erasmus+ programmes in 2020, which the EU backed with over €40 million.
Koloman Brenner, a member of the Hungarian opposition party Jobbik, called for the government to immediately begin negotiations with the institutions to have them released from the control of public trust foundations. He also wrote in a public statement on Facebook that the EU’s move amounts to a “serious handicap for university students and professors and hinders research cooperation.”
Katalin Cseh, a Hungarian MEP, echoed these sentiments. Hungarian students should not be excluded from Erasmus “because of Orbán’s corruption,” she said.
“Despite the fact that I find the ‘Fidesization’ of universities scandalous and unacceptable […] excluding Hungarian university students from Erasmus and depriving them of the opportunity to get to know Europe is the worst possible response,” she wrote on Facebook.
As the above example of the impact of EU conditionality measures shows, it is often the innocent who suffer for the government’s failures and the sanctions imposed by the EU. When discussing the current position of Hungary with young relatives, who are all anti Orbán supporters, they are not sure if withholding money from the government will bring them around to complying to principles that they don’t believe in. The population, however, suffers from the highest rise in food prices in Europe and poverty makes people even more susceptible to populist propaganda. Fidesz and Orbán did not start off with a far right message. Employing similar methods like Trump, nationalistic feelings of victimhood were slowly incited to a receptive audience. Voters in the capital opposed Orbán. He won the 2022 elections (declared free but not fair) partly by giving Hungarians living in neighbouring states citizenship and rural Hungarians financial aid last spring.
Even though I am totally in support of measures to ensure EU values are maintained in Member States, I am wondering how one could hit the real culprits without driving populations into poverty. Karácsony Gergely, the mayor of Budapest stated in a radio interview that Budapest is struggling to function. He was elected for his opposition to Orbán’s Fidesz and he plans to stand again in next year’s local elections.
Similar to London suffering the consequences of the Brexit vote it didn’t support, Budapest is penalised for a government it hasn’t voted for.
Maybe a solution could be found by which local projects could be funded directly, under supervision? Maybe students could be supported individually to stop damaging their future? They are very likely anti-Fidesz supporters just like a majority of UK young are pro-Europeans. How can one impose measures without throwing the baby out with the bath water?
Orbán to lead the EU?
The latest decision the EU is faced with is whether Hungary should be allowed to take on the EU presidency in the second half of 2024. MEPs don’t think the country in its current position is ready to lead the EU
Magdalena Williams came to the U.K. from Vienna in 1970 to attend her mother’s wedding and chose to make the U.K. her home.
She undertook several career changes until her retirement in 2016 from the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She started as a teacher of Hungarian and German to diplomats and finished in the Nigeria Team which was inter alia looking at how to defeat Boko Haram. Before joining the FCO, she worked as a psychologist in hospitals and ran creative therapy workshops in prisons and clinics.
Her interest in writing was first raised when she decided to research her family history and leave a record of how her mother, the daughter of a landed gentry family in Hungary fleeing Communism, first to Vienna then Germany, ended up in rural Kent.
Magdalena is an ardent Remain campaigner, a Green Party member and she will proudly be forever European.
PRIVACY MATTERS. Yes to basic analytics, but no to marketing tracking. We only want to know how many readers we get and from where [see more]. We use this data to understand our community's interests and support the growth of independent news.
Cookie Preferences
Manage your cookie preferences below:
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name
Description
Duration
Cookie Preferences
This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.
30 days
You can find more information in our Privacy Policy and .
