Hungary brought an action before the EU Court of Justice on Thursday 18 October to challenge the voting procedure adopted by the European Parliament on 12 September in its vote against Budapest under Article 7 on the rule of law.
The Court indicated on Twitter that it had been seized on 18 October, but was not yet in a position to give details on how this seizure will be organised or within what time frame it will respond. The Hungarian government announced shortly after the Parliament vote (see EUROPE 12094) that it would challenge the way the vote was counted, as Parliament chose not to count abstentions.
As a reminder, MEPs voted 448 to 197 out of 693 votes in favour and 48 abstentions on the opening of a procedure on Hungary's respect for EU values. The EU Council has recently also taken up the procedure initiated by Parliament and has decided to invite Hungary to submit a written position and the European Commission to draw up a list of offences against Hungary. These include both the university system and academic freedom as well as asylum and migration laws.
However, European ministers had not set any timetable for doing this work. They are due to return to the Hungarian case on 12 November at a forthcoming General Affairs Council. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)