Sovereignty Protection Act in Breach of EU Law
Act LXXXVIII of 2023 on the Protection of National Sovereignty entered into force on 23 December 2023. The Act consists of two distinct elements: the setting up of the new Sovereignty Protection Office as of 1 February 2024, and an amendment to the Hungarian Criminal Code prescribing prison sentence for using funding from abroad (overtly or “in disguise to circumvent the prohibition”) for political campaign purposes. The Act raises conflicts with EU law.
The analysis prepared by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International Hungary provides
- an overview of the contents of the Act and the related 12th Amendment to the Fundamental Law;
- a summary of how Hungary’s Constitutional Court interprets the concept of national sovereignty and constitutional identity, the underlying ideas of the Act; and
- a non-exhaustive list of potential breaches of EU law.
The joint paper is available here.
The HHC and Amnesty International Hungary also prepared a Q&A on the Act, available here.
HHC’s statement on the adoption of the Act is available here.
The result of a survey conducted among Hungarian civil society organsiations, showing that the Act has a chilling effect, is available here.
Civil society members of Monitoring Committees joint request of 4 July 2024 to convene extraordinary sessions of Monitoring Committees following the Sovereignty Protection Office’s investigation against Transparency International Hungary Foundation and the investigative news portal atlatszo.hu in English (and the original, in Hungarian).
The response of the deputy state secretary to the joint letter of civil society members of Monitoring Committees of 23 July 2024, dismissing their request.