Brussels opens a new file against Hungary for its law on the defense of sovereignty

This Wednesday, the European Commission opened a new file against Hungary for its authoritarian drift. On this occasion, Brussels, which still keeps 21 billion euros frozen from the Central European country due to repeated violations of the rule of law, is concerned about the new legislative package to defend national sovereignty approved in December and which, among others, reforms the code criminal law to punish foreign financing of political activities with up to three years in prison and creates an Office for the Defense of Sovereignty with broad investigative powers.

The decision to send Budapest a letter of formal notice is the first step in an infringement procedure that may ultimately end up before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in Luxembourg. The opening of this new file joins the various disputes that Orbán has open with the European institutions for his constant attacks on the rule of law, which have led the European Parliament to declare that Hungary is not a democracy, but a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”. In 2018, MEPs also activated the most powerful weapon of the European treaties, article 7, which can end the suspension of the right to vote in the Council of the EU.

The list of potential violations of European legislation that Brussels sees in this new regulation denounced by the Hungarian opposition and NGOs for its inspiration, they say, in Russian tactics of harassment of dissent, is very long. As the Commission explained in a statement, the legislative package that came into force at the end of last year violates several “democratic values” and freedoms guaranteed in the EU. Among others, he points out, it goes against the principle of democracy and the electoral rights of European citizens. And it also violates “several fundamental rights enshrined in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights”, such as the right to privacy, the protection of personal data, freedom of expression and information, freedom of association or the right to a fair trial. .

The infringement procedure is a procedure that Hungary, highly questioned for its repeated attacks on judicial independence or minorities such as the LGTBI community, knows well. The Commission continues to withhold more than €21 billion of cohesion funds while waiting for it to carry out reforms that guarantee the rule of law. Last December, just when the new legislative package that threatened to provoke a new clash with the European Executive led by the German Ursula von der Leyen was being approved in Budapest, it released a part of the withheld funds, 10.2 billion euros. Although Brussels affirms that it did so after considering that the Orbán Government has complied with part of the steps that Brussels required to protect the independence of the judiciary, the decision was highly criticized when it was announced just before the European Council in which Hungary threatened to veto European financial aid to Ukraine if its funds were not unfrozen. Finally, Orbán relented in that meeting and allowed the other European heads of state and government to make the political decision to open EU accession negotiations with kyiv. He, however, maintained his veto of the 50 billion euros programmed to help the country invaded by Russia, which forced the Twenty-Seven to hold an extraordinary summit on February 1 to finally approve the funds without a Hungarian veto. The approval of the aid went ahead, although Orbán's position threatens to continue posing obstacles for the EU to disburse money to kyiv.

The Orbán Government has responded that Brussels and what it calls “the dollar left”—by which it refers to parties and critical civil society—attacks this law because “it is designed to prevent foreign influence through foreign money.” [George] Soros”, the billionaire of Hungarian origin against whom Budapest has directed many of its attacks in recent years. The CJEU, in fact, declared an Orbán law designed to close Soros universities in the country illegal in 2020.

The new regulations create an office for the defense of national sovereignty dedicated to “detecting and investigating” foreign or internal activities that “could endanger Hungarian sovereignty,” “influence election results” or “electoral will.” ”. In addition, it includes amendments that toughen electoral legislation and the penal code by introducing the crime of “illicitly influencing the electoral will”, punishable by up to three years in prison.

The Hungarian law has been denounced by more than a hundred civil society organizations that accuse Orbán of wanting to “intimidate, dissuade and silence” critical voices ahead of this year's European and municipal elections. “A country where people are intimidated from representing their own interests is not a democracy,” the NGOs said in a joint statement in December. “By implying that behind every critical position there are foreign interests, the authorities despise their own citizens when they seek to intimidate, dissuade and silence those who actively participate in public life,” they warned.

Now, Budapest has a maximum period of two months to respond to the letter from Brussels. If the European Executive considers that the response does not address the concerns expressed, it will consider sending a reasoned opinion, that is, a formal request to enforce EU law, which is the last step prior to raising the matter before the CJEU, to which can ask it to impose sanctions on the offending country.

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