In the European Commission’s first annual report on the rule of law, the Brussels panel called for concern about changes in the independence of the Hungarian judiciary, noting that senior officials had not yet been held accountable in corruption cases. And press freedom is threatened by government action in various directions.

For the first time, it has published the Report on the Rule of Law of the European Commission, which it also produces each year and for each country. The document is a forecasting system, it reveals the deficiencies and errors in certain branches of the democratic system, the purpose of which is for the Commission to initiate a dialogue with the leadership of the State in question.

The report was one of the priorities of the European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen, who has been in office since last December. The work began in the spring of this year, with the staff of the Brussels panel speaking with various governmental and civil actors in all Member States, based on decisions and opinions of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Venice Commission, the anti-corruption authority of the EU and the European Parliament. at a press conference.

Vera Jourová

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This year, the study was conducted on four themes:

  • independence of the judiciary,
  • diversity of the press,
  • the system of brakes and counterweights
  • and corruption.

From the beginning, the Hungarian government criticized and considered this procedure redundant, saying that the Article 7 procedure, which is also ongoing against Hungary, was entirely appropriate to reveal deficiencies in the rule of law. The Hungarian government was able to know the content of the report beforehand and comment on it, but from that moment on it was communicated as a partial and false declaration document. The material was compiled by two EU commissioners: Didier Reynders, Justice and Vera Jourová, Justice. The latter has received very serious attacks in Hungary in recent days, so much so that the Hungarian prime minister is also demanding his resignation, because he believes that the Czech politician is not independent and has insulted the Hungarians with a statement. This accusation was rejected by Jourová. And now, answering a question, she did not want to comment on the letter from the Hungarian prime minister, she said that the chairman of the commission would send her answer. The Czech Jourová, by the way, also shared personal impressions when she spoke of growing up in a former communist country being aware of what life is like in a country that is not free.

Didier Reynders told the press conference that the mechanism to protect the rule of law aims to create a real culture of the rule of law and launch a real debate at both national and EU level.

Didier reynders

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Report Findings

Justice

According to the Report on the Rule of Law, the direction of judicial reform in Hungary is of serious concern, especially with regard to jurisdictional disputes between the independent National Judicial Council and the National Judicial Office. At the same time, in this context, the report recognizes that the digitization of the judiciary in Hungary is of a high level, with very easy access to judgments online.

Corruption

The report notes that, although serious corruption offenses have been investigated in some cases, their number remains very limited. There appears to be a constant lack of decisive action to initiate criminal investigations and firm prosecution of corruption cases involving senior officials or their immediate circle.

Average

In Hungary, due to the lack of legislation and transparency in the distribution of state advertising, a significant amount of state advertising directed at pro-government publications gives the government the opportunity to exercise indirect political influence in the media, they write in the next chapter. They refer to the KESMA media conglomerate, where the pro-government media has merged without control by the competition authorities and this threatens the diversity of the press. The Commission is also concerned that the remaining independent press has recently been attacked by financial means.

Demonstration against Lex Soros in 2018

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Civil

In a chapter, the European Commission also noted that the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled this summer that the Civil Society Organizations Financed by Foreigners Act of 2017 (Lex Soros) is incompatible with the free movement of capital and the law to freedom of association and defense. Privacy and protection of personal data.

In connection with the report, MSZP MEP István Ujhelyi wrote in his statement that a harsher accusation would have been acceptable. “There are systemic failures in the rule of law in Hungary that are incompatible with the values ​​and laws of the European Community. Fidesz’s explanation of the ‘Brussels double standard’ is completely unreliable, as the European Commission has examined all Member States and has made critical conclusions against all of them. The regrettable attack on the Vice-President of the Commission, Jourová, was only to try to discredit the results of European investigations, “said Ujhelyi.

Justice Minister Judit Varga commented on the report on Twitter. In her opinion, in order to avoid double standards, respect for the rule of law in the Member States should be measured by objective and impartial means, not by political processes. However, the Commission’s report does not meet these criteria, says Judit Varga.

Liberal MEP Sophie in’t Veldt said the report needed a medicine for the EU against authoritarian regimes.



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