Helsinki File: EU legal action & CJEU

Today the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Hungary is to pay a lump sum of 200 million euros for failure to implement an earlier judgement of the Court. The Government is also to pay a penalty payment of 1 million euros per day for each day it fails to put an end to the often violent pushback of migrants.

Today, Advocate General Rantos delivered his opinion in an infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission against Hungary in July 2018. The Advocate General held that the criminalisation of assistance to asylum-seekers violates the law … Read more

Six months ago, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Hungary’s NGO law violates the EU law. To date, however, no steps have been taken by Hungary to comply with the judgment. In the face of this, NGOs recommend 3 steps for the European Commission.

17 December 2020 (Budapest) – The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) today announced its judgment, closing infringement proceedings initiated in December 2015. The European Commission initiated the procedure because of concerns regarding … Read more

Since, the European Commission has launched five asylum-related infringement procedures against Hungary, which were primarily based on the information and complaints submitted by the HHC and reflect the HHC’s position. You can find a list of … Read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on 14 May 2020 that Hungary’s practice of automatically placing the quasi-totality of asylum-seekers in closed land-border transit zones during the entire asylum procedure constitutes … Read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled yesterday that the 2017 Hungarian law requiring non-governmental organizations receiving at least HUF 9 million in grants from outside Hungary to register in a special … Read more

Joined cases C-924/19 PPU and C-925/19 PPU

According to the Court of Justice Advocate General’s opinion, the fact that under the Hungarian 2017 Lex NGO, civil society organisations receiving foreign donations are subject to restrictions violates the right to the protection of … Read more

C-519/18

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee welcomes the decision of the European Commission to refer Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for what the Hungarian government calls the ’Stop Soros’ act. The … Read more

Hungary started to deprive of food some third-country nationals detained in the transit zones started in August 2018. After 5 such cases successfully challenged by the HHC with obtaining interim measures from the European Court … Read more

We put together a short document with a list of HHC publications related to key changes in the Hungarian asylum system since 2015 so that you can find the explanation of every major step easily, … Read more

19 July 2018. Budapest We welcome the European Commission’s (EC) decision to start an infringement procedure against the Hungarian criminal law which threatens to prosecute and jail people who help asylum-seekers and migrants with legitimate … Read more

On 29 May 2018, the Hungarian Government submitted a package of bills to the Hungarian Parliament as the third version of what it refers to as the ‘Stop Soros’ package. The bill no. T/333 ‘on … Read more

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee shared its position with the Hungarian Government regarding the so-called “Stop Soros” draft bill. According to the human rights NGO the regulation under preparation is unacceptable and only serves constitutionally indefensible political … Read more

On 29 May 2018, the Hungarian government published two draft laws as the third version of LexNGO 2018, or of what it refers to as the ‘Stop Soros’ package. The drafts propose using criminal law … Read more

Since the elections in 2010, the current governing party has systematically undermined the rule of law in Hungary, seriously disrupting the system of checks and balances. On 7 April 2017, governing party MPs submitted to … Read more

The law XX of 2007 on the amendment of certain acts to tighten the procedures conducted on the border entered into force today, on 28 March 2017. The law has been heavily criticised by human … Read more

On 14 February, the Hungarian government has submitted to Parliament a package of amendments to five acts. These proposed legal changes, which are extreme and flagrant violations of European Union asylum law and European and … Read more