Helsinki File: Rule of Law and the EU

On 30 May, there will be yet another hearing in the General Affairs Council in relation to Hungary in the framework of the procedure under Article 7(1) TEU that is aimed at determining whether there … Read more

On 3 May 2023, the Hungarian Parliament adopted Act X of 2023 on the Amendment of Certain Laws on Justice related to the Hungarian Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Hungarian government now claims to have met all four of the so-called super milestones aimed at restoring the independence of the judiciary set by the Council of the European Union as a precondition for accessing frozen EU funds under Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF).

Today Amnesty International Hungary, the Eötvös Károly Institute and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee turned to the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, regarding concerns about the ongoing law-making process aimed at ensuring Hungary’s compliance with … Read more

As of the end of the first quarter of 2023, the Hungarian government is yet to comply with most of the conditions established by European Union institutions to access EU funds. According to Hungarian civil society organisations, the Government had not yet taken adequate steps in order to fully address the rule of law and human rights concerns raised by the EU, and so numerous issues related to the anti-corruption framework, judicial independence, law-making, the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers, academic freedom and the rights of LGBTQI+ persons remain unresolved. Swift measures are necessary in all of these areas to ensure that the country and its citizens are granted access to EU funds.

On 12 December 2022, the Council adopted Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan based on the Commission’s positive evaluation. Compared to the original plan, a new set of measures were added on governance and public administration, … Read more

Severely deteriorating conditions in the public education system in Hungary have led teachers, students and parents to make increasingly louder demands for change. However, instead of listening to their fact-based concerns, the Hungarian government has … Read more

For the fourth year in a row, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee is contributing to the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report in coordination with other Hungarian human rights and anti-corruption CSOs. This year, Amnesty … Read more

Reacting to the decision of the Council of the EU to suspend EU funds to Hungary for systemic rule of law breaches, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, K-Monitor and Transparency International Hungary call on the Hungarian government to ensure full compliance with rule of law standards to enable the entire Hungarian society to benefit from EU funds.

Promises and half-hearted solutions have failed to convince the European Commission, and so Hungary has still no access to vital EU funds. According to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, K-Monitor and Transparency International (TI) Hungary, the … Read more

With the 19 November deadline given to the Hungarian government to enact the remedial measures it committed to in the framework of the conditionality mechanism nearing, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, K-Monitor and Transparency International Hungary … Read more

Corruption in Hungary has been in the forefront of the discussions about the country’s rule of law backsliding in the past months. However, rule of law concerns with regard to Hungary are much more diverse, … Read more

The ongoing negotiations between the Government of Hungary and the European Commission regarding the conditions for Hungary’s access to the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility as well as the conditionality procedure under the Regulation to … Read more

As a result of the negotiations between the European Commission and the Hungarian Government following the triggering of the Conditionality Mechanism, 17 specific and one general commitment have been included in the Commission’s proposal for … Read more

The ongoing negotiations between the Government of Hungary and the European Commission regarding the conditions for Hungary’s access to the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility as well as the Conditionality Regulation, triggered by the European … Read more

On behalf of the Hungarian Government, Deputy Prime Minister Semjén submitted two bills to Parliament on 19 July 2022, in the afternoon of the last day of Parliament before it went into summer recess. Both … Read more

On 23 May 2022, the Council will hold its fourth hearing in the procedure initiated under Article 7(1) TEU in relation to Hungary in 2018, with the aim to determine whether there is a clear … Read more

Nine Hungarian NGOs submitted a joint contribution in the stakeholder consultation launched by the European Commission for its third annual Rule of Law Report. The Commission’s previous Rule of Law Report (pertaining to 2020) identified … Read more

The European Commission’s Rule of Law Report shows severe deficiencies in all the areas examined, confirming the concerns of Hungarian civil society organisations. The Commission has not been able to identify any substantial improvement in any of these areas, which is especially worrying in the light of the fact that Hungary may lose EU funds due to rule of law deficiencies. Eight Hungarian civil society organisations assess the report’s findings regarding Hungary.

Today, there will be a hearing in the framework of the Article 7(1) procedure on Hungary in the General Affairs Council of the European Union. Eighteen months have passed since the last hearing, and during … Read more

18 months have passed since the last hearing was held in the Article 7 procedure. During this time qualitative changes have occurred in the nature of the Hungarian illiberal regime. We look at some of the key issues today’s Article 7 hearing in the General Affairs Council should take into account.