The controversy surrounding the Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs’ decision to comment earlier this week on the content of the recent hearing concerning respect for the rule of law in his country has not subsided (see EUROPE 12387/3).
Quite the contrary: it will be raised to the level of Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) “next week”, said Finnish Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen on Friday 13 December via Twitter.
On Tuesday 10 December, the Minister asked the Hungarian government for a quick explanation of this potential procedural violation. The spokesman commented on each Member State’s position on his Twitter account during the 2-hour hearing, which focused on three specific themes (independence of the judiciary, freedom of the media and academic freedom). This behaviour was considered “shocking” by the Minister as well as by other delegations.
In its response, the Hungarian government, through Gergely Guylás, Minister of the Office of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, did not provide the requested explanations. On the contrary, he asserted that the EU Council is engaged in procedural violations, in particular by allowing a second hearing to be held, whereas Hungary has contested the initiation of Article 7 and launched a cancellation procedure; the Finnish Presidency also failed in its duty of neutrality by putting on the agenda a second hearing that introduced new issues that were not included in the European Parliament’s report.
The official also considered it “shocking” at his level that, during these hearings, some Member States showed a total lack of knowledge of “very basic facts” concerning Hungary, thereby not allowing for an “impartial” hearing. He also deplored that Member States had echoed the criticisms made by NGOs, in particular Georges Soros’ Open Society.
And he added that Budapest rejects the accusations of anti-Semitism suggested on Tuesday by the Finnish minister.
Not surprisingly, the Finnish minister considered this response “insufficient” and “incomplete”. She even considered it “very serious” that the Hungarian Government would cast doubt on the confidentiality of the EU Council’s debates, having also been accused by Mr Guylás of leaking internal documents concerning this hearing. She will look to the EU Council’s Legal Service to consider possible next steps. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)