On Tuesday 19 November, the European affairs ministers of the EU27 discussed the state of the Rule of law in Hungary through a progress report, requested in particular by Germany, on the so-called ‘Article 7’ procedure of the Treaty.
They also discussed the situation in five countries in the context of the Commission’s annual report on the Rule of law in the EU27, which examines the judicial independence, the anti-corruption framework, media freedom and the balance of checks and balances.
The countries examined were Poland, which has just emerged from the ‘Article 7’ procedure, Austria, Malta and the Netherlands.
Hungary. According to the Hungarian Minister for European Affairs, János Bóka, the discussion on these four countries raised a number of issues such as “judicial independence, judicial administration, appointment of judges, the legislation addressing revolving door phenomenon, safety of journalist, media freedom, asset declaration, public prosecutors, independence, national human rights institutions (and) court case allocations”.
With regard to the debate on his own country, the Commission took stock of the latest developments, he reported soberly.
The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, mentioned the various infringement procedures, “for example, the protection of National Sovereignty Act, proceedings related to the single market, and the infringement case on the so-called child protection law”; (also referred to as the anti-LGBTIQ law, Editor’s note).
He also went back over the process within the framework of the cross-compliance regulation. “This is a situation that the Commission reviewed in December last year and determined that these protective measures should remain in place. In practice, this means that 55% of three cohesion policy programmes with a budget of €6.3 billion remain suspended. This also means that no disbursements of regular payments under the recovery and resilience plan can be made to Hungary.
The Commissioner promised as well that work on Article 7 would continue “until the concerns contained in Parliament’s proposal have been effectively addressed”.
On Tuesday, the Benelux countries chose to express their concerns together, regretting that the Hungarian Presidency chaired this agenda item, contrary to the usual practice in dialogues on the Rule of law or Article 7 procedures, which would have seen the debate held by the previous or next Presidency.
These countries also deplored the fact that most of the initial concerns arising from the Article 7 procedure have still not been resolved after six years, and have observed a further deterioration, particularly with regard to civil society organisations through the new Sovereignty Protection Office, which threatens civic space in Hungary, according to these countries.
Media freedom and pluralism in Hungary are also under threat, said the countries, which are also concerned about the so-called anti-LGBTIQ legislation adopted in June 2021.
This progress report came at a particularly important time, as the Commission and Hungary were facing each other before the Court of Justice of the EU on the same day over the Hungarian law on LGBTIQ people, which the Hungarian government claims is intended to remedy ‘LGBTIQ propaganda’.
Several Member States are involved in this issue, alongside the Commission, including Germany, said Anna Lührmann, German Secretary of State for Europe, on her arrival in Brussels.
According to her, this discussion on Article 7 was “important”, as the situation in Hungary continues to cause “concern”. Commenting on the so-called “anti-LGBTIQ” law, Ms Lührmann said that it was “not acceptable that in a European Member State, talking quite normally about same-sex partnerships should somehow be considered as propaganda. This is definitely not a situation that can last”.
Her Swedish colleague Jessica Rosencrantz was also “very clear on the fact that the EU’s values are non-negotiable”, she said on her arrival, also expressing concern about the new developments surrounding Hungary’s so-called “sovereignty” law.
Poland. For their part, the Polish Ministers for European Affairs and Justice, Adam Szłapka and Adam Bodnar, explained to their colleagues the progress made in the field of justice since the beginning of the year.
“Poland has joined the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and it should be noted that there is already an elected European Public Prosecutor in Poland. I think we’ll be announcing their name very soon”, said Adam Bodnar. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)