{"id":449888,"date":"2026-04-09T16:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/04\/09\/lallarme-degli-eurodeputati-prima-del-voto-in-ungheria-a-rischio-liberta-ed-equita-delle-elezioni\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:01:07","slug":"meps-sound-the-alarm-ahead-of-the-hungarian-election-the-freedom-and-fairness-of-the-election-are-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/04\/09\/meps-sound-the-alarm-ahead-of-the-hungarian-election-the-freedom-and-fairness-of-the-election-are-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"MEPs sound the alarm ahead of the Hungarian election: “The freedom and fairness of the election are at risk”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Ahead of the Hungarian elections<\/strong> this coming Sunday (12 April), concerns are growing within the European Union <\/strong>that the vote will not be conducted in accordance with the principles of democracy, freedom, and fairness<\/strong> enshrined in the EU treaties. And putting this in writing, in a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, <\/strong>and the Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath<\/strong>, are five members of the European Parliament<\/strong>: the rapporteur for the report<\/a> on the rule of law in Hungary, adopted by the European Parliament last November, the Dutch Tineke Strik<\/strong> (Greens), and the shadow rapporteurs Michal Wawrykiewicz<\/strong> (Polish, EPP), Krzysztof \u015amiszek<\/strong> (Polish, S&D), Sophie Wilmes<\/strong> (Belgian, Renew Europe), and Konstantinos Arvanitis<\/strong> (Greek, The Left). \u201cWe wish to bring to your attention,\u201d the MEPs begin, addressing von der Leyen and McGrath, \u201ca series of recent developments in Hungary that raise serious doubts as to whether the parliamentary elections in April can take place in a genuinely free and fair electoral environment, in line with the principle of democracy enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.\u201d <\/p>\n

The first issue addressed in the letter\u2014and one of the matters that has dominated the final weeks of the election campaign\u2014is that of possible Russian interference<\/strong> in the Hungarian election, aimed not only at “providing covert support for the election campaign of the ruling party Fidesz<\/strong> (the political party founded and led by Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>, Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010, ed.),” but also to weaken that of TISZA<\/strong>, the party led by opposition leader P\u00e9ter Magyar<\/strong>. “All signs,” the letter continues, “of an unbalanced electoral contest and of genuine interference in the opposition\u2019s ability to conduct a campaign safely and effectively.” <\/p>\n

Limiting themselves to reporting information cited by “reputable journalistic investigations<\/strong> based on national security sources from various European countries,” MEPs emphasise that the operation is allegedly being run entirely by Russia\u2019s military intelligence service<\/strong>, under the supervision of President Vladimir Putin\u2019s <\/strong>first deputy chief of staff<\/strong>. Indeed, the officials behind the operation are said to be acting directly from the Russian embassy in Budapest<\/strong>, “under diplomatic or service cover.” As Strik pointed out during a press briefing, “this is a scheme very similar to the one Russia already used during the Parliamentary elections in Moldova<\/a>” in September 2025. <\/p>\n

According to the signatories, what is particularly serious in this case is the treatment<\/a> meted out by the Orb\u00e1n government to the investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi<\/strong>, author of the major investigation that uncovered the hidden links between Budapest and Moscow and, according to MEPs, \u201cthe subject of state intimidation of unprecedented severity.\u201d<\/span> A report by the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty<\/strong> (a controversial Hungarian body<\/a> with powers to investigate potential foreign interference in the country\u2019s political life, which was already the subject of an infringement procedure<\/b><\/a> launched by the European Commission in February 2024, ed.) has designated him as a public enemy<\/strong>, thereby allowing the government to launch criminal proceedings against him for alleged espionage<\/strong>. \u201cAll of this,\u201d argue the MEPs, “was accompanied by a public campaign portraying him as a threat to the nation,” despite “Panyi\u2019s long and solid track record of credibly documenting the infiltration of Russian interests into Hungary\u2019s decision-making and political processes, including recent high-level contacts between Hungarian and Russian officials regarding EU sanctions” against certain figures close to the Kremlin. <\/p>\n

Another phenomenon that, according to today\u2019s letter, risks undermining the integrity of the electoral process is vote-buying<\/strong>, a practice which Fidesz is said to be carrying out,<\/span> primarily targeting individuals who are \u201ceconomically vulnerable and marginalised<\/b>.\u201d This quid pro quo is said to occur not only through the classic offer of money<\/strong>, but also through \u201cthe provision of basic foodstuffs, livestock, or drugs<\/strong>, as well as other forms of coercion such as threats to cut off water or electricity<\/strong> or take away children<\/strong>.\u201d Speaking to journalists, Strik described these behaviours as outright \u201cmafia-like practices<\/strong> that have been going on systematically for a long time\u201d and highlighted the combined effect they produce alongside the numerous electoral reforms<\/strong> that Orb\u00e1n has implemented over sixteen years of political dominance in order to transform Hungary into an \u201celectoral autocracy<\/strong>\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe voting system,\u201d explained Strik, \u201chas been so heavily skewed in favour of the ruling party that TISZA would need to secure at least 3\u20134 per cent more votes<\/strong> than Fidesz to match its number of seats, and between 5 and 6 per cent<\/strong> to have a sufficient number of MPs to secure a simple majority.\u201d <\/p>\n

In light of all this, MEPs argue that the Commission has a duty to ensure that Sunday\u2019s elections are \u201cfree, fair, properly monitored, and fully in line with democratic principles. There are many ways to achieve this, ranging from the \u201cimmediate use of the
\nEuropean Centre for Democratic Resilience<\/a><\/p>\n

and all EU structures for monitoring and analysing disinformation and foreign interference” to “close cooperation with the OSCE<\/a> (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
\n(ODIHR<\/a>).” <\/p>\n

“The EU,” the five MEPs conclude, “cannot credibly defend democracy beyond its borders unless it takes action when the integrity of elections within its own borders is seriously called into question.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a letter sent to the European Commission, Tineke Strik, the rapporteur for the report on the rule of law in Hungary, and four other MEPs highlight the danger of Russian interference and the spread of vote-buying<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":449880,"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","show_comment_section":"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":[25716,25681],"tags":[25833,33657,33722,30916,30669],"class_list":["post-449888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-politics","tag-elezioni-in-ungheria","tag-interferenze-russe-in-ungheria","tag-tinekebow-and","tag-viktor-orban-en-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449888","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\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449889,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449888\/revisions\/449889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}