The European Commission today criticized Hungary for political influence over the Public Prosecutor’s Office, for failing to guarantee the independence of the media and the protection of journalists, and for creating obstacles to the functioning of associations.
The accusations are included in the 2024 European Union (EU) Rule of Law Report, which assesses respect for fundamental rights and democratic standards for the fifth consecutive year, and in which the EU executive points out that, in Hungary, “political influence over the Public Prosecutor’s Office remains, with the risk of undue interference in individual cases”.
“Judges’ freedom of expression continues to be subject to pressure and smear campaigns against judges in the media continue. The level of pay for judges and court staff has continued to deteriorate,” it added.
Brussels states that “the 2023 judicial reform is being implemented”, as required by the institution with the suspension of 21 billion euros in community funds, but adds that “concerns remain regarding the lack of transparency in the distribution of cases”.
“The suspension of commitments of EU funds under several EU programmes and the lack of payments following a payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Plan persist as no further measures have been taken to address outstanding issues on the rule of law and the fight against corruption,” it notes.
As regards the media, “the threats to media pluralism highlighted in previous rule of law reports remain unresolved”, the European Commission states, listing that “no measures have been adopted or are planned to regulate the channelling of state advertising to the media, to guarantee the functional independence of the media authority and to ensure the editorial and financial independence of public service media”.
In Hungary, “independent journalists and media continue to face numerous challenges, including seemingly coordinated smear and delegitimization campaigns and selective access to government facilities and events,” it said.
Brussels notes that in Hungary “obstacles affecting civil society organisations persist”, given that “the new law on the protection of national sovereignty further undermines civic space”.
For this reason, “concerns persist regarding the role of the State in financing civil society”, concludes the institution, asking the Hungarian government to repeal “legislation that harms the capacity of work (of organizations), in particular the immigration tax”.
Octav Ganea/Reuters
European Union
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Hungary has around €21 billion in EU funds frozen as part of the European Commission’s activation in 2022 of the rule of law conditionality mechanism, created to protect EU interests.
Brussels is therefore demanding changes in Hungarian policies relating to the independence of the judiciary and media, academic freedoms, the asylum system and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people.
Furthermore, Hungary has been the subject of an open case since 2018 for the degradation of the rule of law caused by the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, accused of weakening judicial independence, reducing media pluralism, abusing emergency powers, passing anti-LGBTQI legislation and making asylum difficult.
Poland also had a case opened for the degradation of the rule of law, but it was closed last May due to the return to respect for democratic norms, with the change of government from ultra-conservative to center-right, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourová described Poland as “a success story”, describing the rule of law report as “a preventive mechanism” to avoid prosecutions like those facing Hungary.
Source: expresso.pt
