{"id":423354,"date":"2025-04-02T20:12:37","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/04\/02\/viktor-orban-ungheria-stato-diritto-pe\/"},"modified":"2025-04-03T12:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T10:38:17","slug":"europe-is-getting-fed-up-with-viktor-orban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/04\/02\/europe-is-getting-fed-up-with-viktor-orban\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe is getting fed up with Viktor Orb\u00e1n"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Correspondent\u00a0in Strasbourg – Viktor Orb\u00e1n’s Hungary<\/strong> remains under\u00a0special observation\u00a0in the EU<\/strong>. So far, there has been more talk than concrete action to reverse (or at least halt) the democratic backsliding<\/strong> in the central European country, which has been under infringement proceedings for over\u00a0six years. But perhaps something is slowly about to move<\/strong> as the Hungarian prime minister continues with the crackdown on minorities, provokes his 12-star partners, and stretches the limits\u00a0of international law.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, there are the increasingly violent attacks by\u00a0Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>\u00a0on the\u00a0democratic framework in Hungary, dismantling the rule of law and its system of guarantees<\/strong>, checks, and balances:\u00a0capturing the media, judiciary reforms that silence\u00a0judges critical of his government, extension of the “special legal state<\/strong>” that grants broad powers to the head of the executive by bypassing Parliament (in any case dominated by his party, Fidesz<\/i><\/strong>, allied in Europe with Matteo Salvini<\/strong> and Marine Le Pen<\/strong> in the Patriots), restrictive constitutional amendments.<\/p>\n

Mimicking a measure in force in Vladimir Putin<\/strong>‘s Russia, the Hungarian\u00a0leader recently passed a law on “foreign agents”<\/strong>\u00a0that obstructs the activities of entities that receive funding from abroad under the guise of protecting national sovereignty.<\/strong> An all-out war against civil society organizations that still resist the siege, and in general, against all countervailing powers and intermediate bodies.<\/p>\n

\"Vladimir<\/a>
Russian president Vladimir Putin (photo via Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not to mention the all-out crusade against so-called gender ideology:<\/strong> the\u00a0icing on the cake was\u00a0the\u00a0banning of\u00a0Budapest Pride<\/strong>, scheduled for June 28. With a single swipe, the prime minister simultaneously put the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the crosshairs and undermined the freedom of assembly of the entire Hungarian population\u00a0to “protect children.”<\/p>\n

On the other hand, in total defiance of international law, the Hungarian prime minister is\u00a0currently<\/a>\u00a0welcoming his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu<\/strong>, for\u00a0whom the\u00a0International Criminal Court (ICC), <\/strong>to which Hungary is a party,\u00a0issued an arrest warrant in November. From strongman to strongman, both are intent on downsizing the independence of the judiciary to bring it under the control of the executive power.<\/p>\n

The patience of MEPs has long run out, and this afternoon (April 2), during the ongoing plenary session in Strasbourg, they discussed the latest developments in the central European country. From the Left, Ilaria Salis<\/strong> (who has had more than a few disagreements with the Hungarian government) spoke of a “disregard for law and civil liberties”<\/strong> that has now reached “beyond the point of no return,” while for French socialist Chlo\u00e9 Ride<\/strong>l the Hungarian\u00a0prime minister “leads a war against human dignity.”<\/strong> According to the popular Austrian Reinhold Lopatka,<\/strong> with EU funds, one cannot “support governments that undermine democracy;<\/strong>” therefore, their disbursement should be suspended.<\/p>\n

The European Parliament rapporteur on the Hungary file, German environmentalist Tineke Strik<\/strong>, spoke of a “real threat” to maintaining democracy<\/strong> in the country, not least in light of Orb\u00e1n’s comments calling critics (journalists, judges, and NGOs) “parasites” that should be “eliminated.”<\/strong> The widespread fear is that he could draw up\u00a0“blacklists” of political opponents.<\/strong>\u00a0This development could go hand in hand with using facial recognition technologies<\/strong> (the perfect premise for a “police state,” says Strik).<\/p>\n

\"Tineke<\/a>
German Green MEP, Tineke Strik (photo: Michel Christen\/EP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs (LIBE) <\/strong>delegation\u00a0<\/strong>will travel to Budapest on a mission in mid-April to monitor the situation<\/strong> and assess the latest developments, providing the basis for a new report, also authored by Strik, which should be ready by next fall.<\/p>\n

The Council of Europe <\/strong>issued (yet another) warning today. Addressing Hungarian MEPs, Human Rights Commissioner Michael O’Flaherty<\/strong> urged<\/a> them not to proceed with a series of legislative measures – including tampering with the Basic Charter to include, for example, legal recognition of only heterosexual couples – because they “raise doubts about their compatibility with human rights standards<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. After years of deadlock, something changed in the Council, during which an\u00a0Article 7 procedure<\/strong> of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), launched in September 2018, stalled. Speaking from Strasbourg, Polish Minister of European Affairs Adam Szlapka<\/strong> reiterated the commitment of Warsaw (which holds the rotating EU presidency)\u00a0to protecting the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Now, the list of chancellors increasingly intolerant of Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>\u00a0is becoming longer,\u00a0reaching 19 thanks to the significant\u00a0addition of Germany<\/strong>, which has always been lukewarm on the issue partly because of economic interests related to the domestic automobile industry, which has relocated several plants to Hungary. The chancellor-designate\u00a0Friedrich Merz<\/strong>\u00a0reportedly agrees with his future government partners, the Social Democrats of the SPD, in increasing pressure on the Hungarian leader through systematic recourse to freezing EU funds<\/strong> if Budapest continues to slide toward authoritarianism and\u00a0oppose\u00a0the Ukraine dossier<\/strong> (in supporting Kyiv and in sanctions against Moscow).<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>
Commissioner for Democracy, Michael McGrath (photo: Philippe Buissin\/EP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The legal threshold to\u00a0activate Article 7.1 – the provision that allows the Council to recognize a severe and persistent violation of the founding principles of the Union<\/strong> – is four-fifths or 22 countries out of 27<\/strong>. Actual sanctions (especially the so-called nuclear option<\/strong>, which provides for suspension of voting rights in the Council) require\u00a0unanimity<\/strong>, which is difficult to achieve, especially as long as\u00a0other leaders, such as Slovakian Robert Fico<\/strong>, are equally intent on demolishing democratic structures. But it is a start.<\/p>\n

Theoretically, also\u00a0the EU executive says it is “ready” to take the necessary countermeasures<\/strong>. Democracy Commissioner Michael McGrath r<\/strong>eiterated that the latest legislation passed in Hungary undermines the country’s fundamental rights and civic space, which does not comply with last summer’s\u00a0recommendations from Brussels on the rule of law.<\/strong> “The imperative of child protection and the right to peaceful assembly are not in conflict,” he said, addressing MEPs, to whom he assured that “the Commission will not hesitate to take further action<\/strong> to ensure respect for the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary and any other member state.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the plenary session of the European Parliament, MEPs discussed again the deterioration of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary, calling to sanction Budapest. Perhaps, for the first time in years, there may be a shared political will to do so<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":423342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[25833,27048,28646,25755,30370,26302,30916,30669],"class_list":{"0":"post-423354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-democracy-en","10":"tag-news-parliament-en","11":"tag-michael-mcgrath-en","12":"tag-state-of-right-en","13":"tag-tinekebow-and","14":"tag-viktor-orban-en-2"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423354"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423414,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423354\/revisions\/423414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}