"A serious message arrived today," Boka said, adding that in a lawsuit initiated by the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Hungary had violated EU law when it voted against the common EU position on the classification of cannabis.

"The Hungarian government's position on drug policy is clear: we condemn efforts to liberalse drugs because we consider them to be misguided and dangerous," he said.

Boka said Hungary had a zero-tolerance policy on drugs and will continue to do so in the future. "We will not bow to any pressure that would interfere with our national drug policy or lead the country towards drug liberalisation," he added.

Gulyas: Govt to turn to Constitutional Court over EU drugs ruling

The government has decided to request the Constitutional Court to establish if a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union on drugs liberalisation is in harmony with the Hungarian constitution, the head of the Prime Minister's Office told a regular press briefing.

Gergely Gulyas said "as long as Hungary has a patriotic government, there will be no liberalisation of drugs."

The European court ruled against Hungary for its voting against the reclassification of cannabis in a United Nations organisation, Gulyas noted. "Regrettably, that ruling … creates the most negative precedent possible: it violates Hungary's sovereignty and takes a step towards the liberalisation of drugs at the same time," he said.

Hungary's sovereignty must not be violated; the EU "cannot give guidance to Hungary on how to vote in another international organisation," Gulyas said.

He said it was "an even more important matter of principle" that Hungary has zero tolerance for drug abuse.

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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