The mission's findings will feed into the Article 7 procedure under way against Hungary.

Green MEP Tineke Strik, the head of the delegation, said that while they had met several civil society organisations and institutes during their stay, many high-ranking state leaders, including the prime minister and the justice minister, had declined to see them.

 "This is signalling a more hostile climate towards ... the EP..." she said.

"There was a clear tendency to discredit the delegation", Strik said, adding that that tendency had been "palpable" in mostly government-adjacent media outlets, which had accused the delegation of interfering in domestic affairs. "Media reports also included personal attacks and smear campaigns on individual delegation members..."

The mission had found a "constant and accelerating deterioration of the rule of law situation in Hungary ... alongside with non-compliance with CJEU ruling and recommendations from the European Commission and the European Parliament," she said.

She said the government had used "much-needed salary increases" in the judiciary "to introduce reforms that would further undermine judicial independence." She said that the institutions set up to safeguard that independence had no real influence or jurisdiction.

Strik said fight against "systemic corruption" in Hungary was impeded by the Integrity Authority's lack of effective powers and by the fact that the authority itself had been a subject of attacks.
 

She said NGOs reported increasing intimidation, especially due to the reviews of the Sovereignty Protection Authority. "Media organisations face similar difficulties, they are facing lack of access to information and resources in a media landscape dominated by pro-government outlets."
 

The proposed transparency legislation had further increased that pressure, she added.

A new amendment of the Fundamental Law makes it possible to ban all demonstrations "not in line with the protection of children's rights" according to "a very broad definition", which had led to banning the Budapest Pride march, she said.
 

Fidesz MEP Andras Laszlo said in response that the delegation was the one to reject to hear the presentation of Hungary's presidency of the European Council. "As far as I know, this is the only committee to reject to receive the Hungarian presidency's presentation. The deputy state secretary was here and answered every question."

Regarding the report's statements on the media and civil society, Laszlo said: "The US administration led by Joe Biden spent 20 million dollars on Hungarian NGOs and media. It would be surprising if they were under government control."

He said the report had omitted to mention that the EU itself was also providing "substantial support" for Hungarian NGOs. Meanwhile, the report itself admits that the ebb in US funding had weakened Hungarian civil organisations - "even though these organisations often insist that they receive no support from abroad."

Photo courtesy: EU parliament
 

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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