European Union to strip Hungary of voting rights?

The Council of the European Union is once again planning another hearing about the state of the rule of law in Hungary, in connection with the article 7 procession. Currently, Sweden leads the presidency of the Council since January.

The member states are yet to approve of the hearing. However, according to insider sources, they will not resist. The article 7 procession began all the way back in September 2018, when the European Parliament adopted the Sargentini report, writes Népszava.

Article 7 procedure

Back in 2018, a committee made of members of the European Parliament forwarded a report to the legislative body. They claimed that Hungary breached several founding values of the European Union. Consequently, the country’s voting rights should be possibly temporarily revoked until the situation is remedied.

Since the adoption of the report, no specific steps have been taken. Members of the Council of the EU from time to time organise hearings to see how things are developing. The next significant move would be the articulation of direct measures Hungary should take to end the procession.

The European Parliament made requests for action many times, but to no avail. In a modified issue of the report created last year, the EP called Hungary a hybrid regime, an electoral autocracy.

Rule of law procedure

Another ongoing process against Hungary by EU bodies is the rule of law conditionality mechanism, started in 2020. This procedure is used to determine whether European funds are at risk in the country, due to institutional and/or legal deficits, corruption, etc. If the answer is yes, then that member state is stripped of further EU funding until the necessary steps are made to guarantee the proper use of common funds.

This mechanism is currently in utilisiation against Hungary. However, there is now active cooperation between the EU bodies and the national government to free up the withheld funds. Next week, for example, Commissioner Johannes Hahn, responsible for the EU budget, will be meeting with PM Viktor Orbán to negotiate about further reforms.

Ongoing negotiations

There are two greater issues at hand right now. One is about the independence of courts, the other one is about the independence of institutions of higher education. If Hungary was to remedy the concerns the EU has about judicial independence, EUR 13 million of the frozen funds would become available to use. Judicial issues are one of the 27 topics that the Commission pointed out, which are in need of reform. Upon the completion of these demands, Hungary would gain access to the RRF funds.

Another issue at hand is Hungarian students’ access to the Erasmus and Horizon programs. The majority of country’s universities lost access to apply to these funds, as the EU saw the risk of corruption. This is because the leadership board of these institutions included ministers and other governmental representatives. Hahn warned that if Budapest does not take the necessary steps to rule out possible conflicts of interest by 1 May, students at the involved universities would lose out on these educational programs.

Minister of Justice, Judit Varga has announced on Thursday, that the Commission gave green for the planned judicial reform. Commissioner Hahn is also optimistic about his meeting with the prime minister.

“I have no doubts, an agreement will be reached between the European Union and Budapest,”

he said.

Read also:

• Hungary cannot even meet its own deadlines: EU funds at stake
• Hungarian students can apply for Erasmus scholarships for autumn semester!

Source: Népszava