Brussels, 03/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has now received the official translation into English and French of the new constitutional laws adopted in Hungary at the end of December. It is in the process of assessing them to see whether they are in line with EU law, the European Commission spokesman said on Tuesday 3 January. The Commission has above all reminded the Hungarian authorities that it is necessary to safeguard the independence of the central bank in Hungary.
The new Hungarian constitution, adopted in April thanks to a two-third majority in parliament enjoyed by the Fidesz party under Viktor Orban, has aroused criticism from the EU, US State Secretary Hillary Clinton, the IMF and many non-governmental organisations. Those against it reproach Viktor Orban for having restricted the powers of the constitutional court, threatened media plurality, and for putting an end to the independence of the justice system.
For a month now, even before the laws were adopted, the European Commission has been informing the Hungarian authorities that it had “doubts”, the Commission spokesman said. He went on to explain that they had received a number of responses, that a number of responses had been given and that, now that the laws have been adopted, they will be able to verify whether these are in line with EU law. As soon as that is done, he went on, the College will be informed and it will be known whether the latter plans to initiate infringement proceedings against Hungary.
Commission President José Manuel Barroso was adamant that Hungarian authorities should safeguard the independence of the central bank of Hungary. The spokesman said that Barroso had exchanged correspondence with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban “during the Christmas vacation” and last week especially. He gave his assurance that the Commission would show proof of vigilance, while the Commission stated it had not been playing the waiting game. The spokesman pointed out that, even before the laws were adopted, in early December, the Commission had written to the Hungarian authorities to explain that the draft laws, now adopted, were potentially incompatible with EU law. Now that the laws have been adopted, “we are under an obligation to look at the legal texts and, where necessary, if we see that EU law has been violated, open infringement procedure. That analysis will be made in coming days”, he added.
Commissioner Viviane Reding wrote to her Hungarian counterpart on 12 December setting out her doubts about two points relating to a number of the laws: - the independence of the national data protection supervisory authority, and the retirement age and independence of judges. The Commission received a reply and the law was adopted. “We must look at the text as adopted and see if our concerns were taken into consideration and whether these new laws have been respected”, the spokesman said. Analysis is currently underway.
In December 2011, Commissioner Olli Rehn had also reacted to a number of provisions that were liable to cause problems from the point of view of respect of EU law, including the change of legal status and environment surrounding the central bank in Hungary. According to the Treaty (Article 130), the national central banks and the European Central Bank must be independent and can only receive instructions from the national authorities of the relevant countries. The Commission president underlined that it is essential to abide by this principle of independence. The spokesman pointed out that the law was adopted on Friday last by the Hungarian parliament and that they have now received the translation of the law which will be examined and verified to see if the new law is in line with Community law or whether it is in breach of Article 130 of the EU Treaty.
Media law. As a result of the law adopted last year after lengthy procrastination, Hungary closed down a very popular radio channel in that country, Club Radio. Commissioner Neelie Kroes is keeping an eye open for trouble but, a spokesman said, “for now, we do not know whether Club Radio has received formal notification of the decision. For now, we do not have any specific information allowing us to act at this stage. However, if there is proof that media freedom has been violated in Hungary, then we shall deal with it”.