The Hungarian Helsinki Committee was invited to take part in an exchange of views at a meeting of the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament on Hungary’s backsliding on democracy and the rule of law, on 27 January 2025 

Honorable Members of the LIBE Committee, Chair, State Secretary Zsigmond, Deputy Director General Moozova —  

Thank you for the opportunity to address the LIBE Committee Hungary’s erosion of EU values and the rule of law. Your attention and action are urgently needed.  

As a civil society organization, we provide free human rights legal assistance to 2,000–3,000 people annually. Increasingly, we represent Hungarians facing reprisals for resisting the country’s authoritarian shift. Our clients include teachers, civil servants, judges, journalists, and activists.  

Where We Stand 

The space to protect rule of law and human rights has been under persistent attack in Hungary. Despite strong public demand and EU actions, deliberate non-compliance with rule of law standards continues.  

Key concerns: 

1. No political will to make progress: Anti-corruption, rule of law milestones, and fundamental rights recommendations remain unmet. The reason why progress on rule of law standards is stalled is not due to technical difficulties, but rather due to a lack of willingness to constrain an ever increasing power that actually erodes rights, erodes freedom of expression, erodes judicial independence. The kleptocratic regime is the key driver here. This is why it is right that the European institutions have started paying attention to this, and have started devising instruments to address this, and started to apply them.
2. New instruments and authorities have been created to further shrink space. Enacted in December 2023, the Sovereignty Protection Law targets civil society, independent media, and dissenting voices, framing EU engagement as a sovereignty threat. Civil society faces harassment for exposing corruption, also hindering the monitoring of EU funds.
3. Judicial independence undermined: Recent reforms further erode judicial independence. Judges fear political influence and impending unclear structural changes. This has prompted widespread protests, so far unseen among the judiciary.
4. Non-execution of court judgments: Hungary has the EU’s highest rate of non-compliance with leading ECtHR judgments. It also has failed to respect CJEU rulings, resulting in a fine of €200 million and €1 million per day.
5. Media freedom: No effective steps are taken to counter Russian-style disinformation. Instead, there is an abundance of funding flowing towards both states and private media entities to make this even more widespread. Journalists face significant obstacles, including surveillance, smear campaigns, and restricted access to information. Not only are no effective steps taken to counter to curb Russian style disinformation, but Journalists who are exposing corruption are facing obstacles surveillance, in some cases smear campaigns and also harassment and their access to public information is really restricted.

Eight Hungarian civil society organisation just published a 100-page long contribution detailing these concerns for the Commission’s Annual Rule of Law Report.  

What Lies Ahead 

Without decisive action, Hungary’s escalating erosion of rights and values poses a threat to citizens, their organizations, and businesses. Hungary’s actions set a dangerous precedent within the EU and create a business environment where political patronage undermines rule of law protections.  

What Needs to Be Done 

To protect EU values, we recommend: 

1. Maintaining a strong focus on systemic corruption and rule of law breakdown, linking EU funds to compliance.
2. The Commission should rigorously assess Hungary’s compliance with funding criteria and uphold, or apply new conditionality mechanisms whenever necessary.
3. The Parliament should use its legal tools, such as intervening in cases like the Sovereignty Protection Act (C-829/24).
4. Protect civil society and journalists with robust legal and financial instruments, particularly with a view to the next EU budget.
5. Given the persistance and severe breaches of EU values, the Article 7 process should address recommendations to Hungary’s government.

Hungarians are clearly demanding the curbing of systemic corruption and the strengthening of the rule of law. The resolute application of EU instruments and the effective protection of rule of law actors should support our society  in this struggle.   

Thank you. Köszönöm a figyelmet.