The government objected whether the two-thirds necessary to initiate proceedings against Hungary were present at the time of the vote.

The Court of Justice of the European Communities should dismiss Hungary’s action against the European Parliament, suggests Advocate General Michal Bobek to the panel. The essence of the lawsuit is that the government disputes whether the Sargentini report was actually voted by a two-thirds majority and, on this basis, does not consider it justified that a process against Hungary was initiated for serious violations of the rule of law.

The resolution adopted on September 12, 2018 stipulates that a majority of two-thirds of the members must be present, but the relevant article of the EU Treaty does not specify whether abstentions must be taken into account in favor and against. The resolution was adopted by 448 votes to 197 and 48 abstentions. If the latter had been taken into account, there would not have been the required majority; on this basis, Hungary questioned the validity of the resolution.

The Advocate General dismissed the appeal on the grounds that, linguistically, the concepts of “abstention” and “vote cast” were mutually exclusive. While an abstainer requests that their vote be for or against a proposal and wishes to be treated as if they had not voted at all, the concept of “cast vote” implies that a person actively expressed their opinion by voting for or against. However, Bobak also notes that the EP Rules of Procedure stipulate that “only votes in favor and against will be taken into account when determining whether a text has been put to a vote or rejected, except when the Treaties provide for a special majority. However This is not the case here, he also added that Members had been informed of this prior to the vote.

The proposal of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Communities is not binding on the panel, but in most cases the judgment is the same.


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