Stating the Obvious

As a response to the Resolution on Hungary adopted by the European Parliament on 12 September 2018, triggering the procedure under Article 7(1) TEU against Hungary, the Hungarian Government’s submitted an Information Note to the General Affairs Council of the European Union.

A coalition of Hungarian NGOs set out to collate and refute the most significant false or misleading statements of the Government’s Information Note, and to point out the most important instances when the Hungarian Government failed to react to the concerns included in the EP resolution. The reaction paper prepared by the NGOs also contains the most important new developments in the area of rule of law and human rights in Hungary since the adoption of the EP resolution.

The NGO reaction paper follows the structure of the EP resolution and the Government’s Information Note, and so covers the following topics:

(1a) the functioning of the constitutional system;
(1b) the functioning of the electoral system;
(2a) the independence of the judiciary and the rights of judges;
(2b) the independence of other institutions;
(3) corruption and conflicts of interest;
(4) privacy and data protection;
(5) freedom of expression;
(6) academic freedom;
(7) freedom of religion;
(8) freedom of association;
(9a) the right to equal treatment: women;
(9b) the right to equal treatment: LGBTQI persons;
(10) the rights of persons belonging to minorities, including Roma and Jews;
(11) the fundamental rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees; and
(12) economic and social rights.

The reaction paper was prepared by Amnesty International Hungary, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Hungarian LGBT Alliance, Mérték Media Monitor, and Transparency International Hungary. The Hungarian Academy Staff Forum and the Streetlawyer Association prepared individual chapters.

The reaction paper is available here in English:

Stating the Obvious – Rebutting the Hungarian Government’s response to the Reasoned Proposal in the Article 7 procedure against Hungary (A reaction paper by NGOs)