The European Commission on Monday 23 May assessed that the rule of law situation in Hungary was deteriorating further during a meeting of European affairs ministers and expressed concern about the lack of independence of the media regulator and the use of the Pegasus spyware by the authorities.
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Hungarian Minister Judit Varga was questioned by her colleagues during the meeting, as part of a case launched against her country by the European Parliament in 2018 for “clear risk of serious violation of European values”. This was the fourth such hearing. “On behalf of the Commission, we see no progress; on the contrary, there have even been further deteriorations,” said EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, who took part in the discussion. He cited the Hungarian law prohibiting discussion of “gender reassignment and homosexuality” with minors and condemned its discriminatory nature towards the LGBT community.
The commission’s concerns also relate to “the question of the independence of the media regulator,” “all of whose members” were appointed by ruling Fidesz and who have refused to renew the broadcasting license of independent radio station Klubradio, the Belgian commissioner explained during a press conference . Commenting on April’s parliamentary elections, which resulted in another victory for nationalist leader Viktor Orban, who has been in power for 12 years, Didier Reynders reported on the OSCE’s preliminary results, which reflect “media bias or opaque campaign financing ‘ questioned. . He also mentioned “problems related to the independence of the judiciary or the use of spyware like Pegasus by the Hungarian authorities”.
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“Political pressure” from the European Union
“In our estimation, the situation in Hungary is not good,” said Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova. For her part, Minister Judit Varga reiterated that the Hungarian people voted to show their “support for the European policies of the Hungarian government” and condemned the “political pressure” exerted by the EU. She also justified her country’s blockade against the passage of the EU’s sixth package of sanctions, which would include an oil embargo against Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. “As a landlocked country, it is vital that Hungary’s continued energy supply and security is assured. So we wait for a new proposal first, and then we can move on,” she explained. “We are in talks with the Commission,” she added.
Hungary relies on oil supplied from Russia through the Druzhba pipeline. Budapest put the cost of halting its purchases of Russian oil at €15-18 billion to explain its request to exempt pipeline supplies from the EU’s oil embargo plan. In the absence of progress this week, the question of the embargo should be invited to the European summit on May 30-31.