The Hungarian Government maintains its position that democracy and the rule of law are stable, and Hungary is committed to European values and norms. Nevertheless, it is prepared to continue dialogue on the situation in Hungary, János Martonyi said.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister recalled that due to a technical error, the draft report on Hungary had been posted on the Commission's website several days ago, which was quite unusual. After the Hungarian Government had provided its response on Wednesday, some parts of the document had been modified in comparison to the text that was temporarily made available on the Commission’s home page.

János Martonyi reacted to the modified text of the report at the Friday session of the Venice Commission, and following his address on Friday, another five-six points of the draft were changed.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister stated that the draft report still expressed an opinion which can be and should be debated, and this is what the Hungarian Government will do in the coming days and weeks. One of the objections of the Hungarian Government was that the conclusions did not always reflect the modifications made in the text. This is why the Hungarian Government proposed that the document should state that the Hungarian Government reacts to the decisions of the Constitutional Court instead of that the Hungarian Government „overrides” them.

János Martonyi also raised the objection that the text made several unfounded assumptions and focused on possible risks and threats. But we must remain at the level of conjecture and if some risk did exist, the Hungarian Government would solve these internally, he added.

The Minister further claimed that the Commission's opinion should be based on neutral legal considerations; in reality, however, it seems to be motivated by political ones and accordingly the Government disagrees with some of its conclusions, he said.

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament will vote on amendments to the so-called Tavares report on June 19. The assembly of the Council of Europe will vote whether to launch a monitoring procedure against Hungary on June 25. Finally, the EP plenary session will vote on the amended report on July 3.

The response of the Hungarian Government to the draft report was made public on June 12. The Government's full response is available here.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs