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Hungary can no longer be considered a full democracy, the European Parliament has said in a powerful symbolic vote against Viktor Orbán’s government.
In a resolution supported by 81% of MEPs present, the parliament declared that Hungary had become a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”, citing a breakdown in democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law.
While the vote has no practical effect, it increases pressure on EU officials in Brussels not to pay billions in EU cash to Hungary, which is being withheld over corruption concerns.
Hungary is struggling to persuade the European Commission to release €4.64 billion in Covid recovery funds, frozen for more than a year. Budapest is also trying to stave off a separate legal proceeding that could lead to deductions from €24.3 billion. in cohesion funds, money for infrastructure and economic development.
The European Commission is expected to propose cutting 70% of Hungary’s cohesion funds on Sunday, but will also open the door to a compromise, according to two MEPs familiar with discussions. “More or less what we are hearing is that the commission will propose … these sanctions or financial measures,” said Moritz Körner, a German MEP who has been briefed by the commission.
In a recent internal paper, Commission officials suggested there was a “very significant” risk in Hungary’s management of EU funds, citing breaches of public interest rules and an unusually high number of contracts awarded to a single tenderer – a red flag for transparency monitoring. The paper, which has been removed from the commission’s website, suggests a 70% cut in funding as “proportionate” to the risk.
Hungary has until mid-November to get its house in order. After a charm offensive in Brussels, Hungary’s government is expected next week to propose a series of laws to fight corruption. Critics fear the commission is ready to accept cosmetic changes to ease conflicts over EU funding.
“The commission has reached a half-hearted agreement with the Hungarian government on the kind of change they want to see,” said Daniel Freund, a German Green MEP also briefed on the commission’s plans. “There is a very short time frame and … to expect the damage that Orbán has done with [his] constitutional majority over 12 years, can now be repaired in a matter of weeks or a few months, I think is mildly optimistic.”
Orbán has been in office since 2010 and had a two-thirds parliamentary majority for most of that time.
A spokesman for the European Commission declined to comment but said it was analyzing “the remedial measures” submitted by Hungary and had until September 21 to decide on the next step.
However, the European Parliament’s decision, which points to “the risk of clientelism, favoritism and nepotism in high-level public administration”, will make any increase in the protection of EU funds more difficult.
Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, the French MEP who drafted the resolution, described the conclusions as clear and irrevocable. “Hungary is not a democracy. It was more urgent than ever for Parliament to take this position given the alarming rate at which the rule of law is receding in Hungary.”
She added that “the large majority of MEPs supporting this position in the European Parliament is unprecedented”. Of the 534 MEPs present for the vote in Strasbourg, 433 voted in favour, 123 against and 28 abstained.
The large majority was helped by Orbán’s decision in 2021 to leave the political family of Europe’s centre-right, the European People’s Party (EPP). The EPP had previously offered Hungary’s Fidesz party some protection from critical votes, but Orbán pulled his party out before it was pushed out by centre-right MPs.
The vote comes almost exactly four years after MEPs voted to trigger disciplinary action against Hungary, a decision that ultimately rests in the hands of the 26 other EU member states, which have mostly shown little appetite for conflict with Budapest.
MEPs, who do not have the power to deny Hungary funds, have accused the EU Council of Ministers and the European Commission of alleged inaction, a point made clear in the resolution. MEPs expressed “deep regret that the lack of decisive EU action has contributed to a breakdown of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, turning the country into a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”.
Parliament’s damning conclusion was based on reports from bodies belonging to the Council of Europe, as well as case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union and the separate European Court of Human Rights.
The MEPs also cited the judgment of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which reported in April that Hungary’s election, which returned Orbán to power for a fourth consecutive term, was “marred by the absence of a level playing field”. The OSCE sent a full-fledged mission to Hungary, an almost unprecedented step for an EU member state.
The report also noted the Hungarian judges’ concerns about the independence of the courts in their country following numerous changes by the Orbán government, including the appointment of Supreme Court judges outside of normal procedures.
The measure was opposed by MEPs from Eurosceptic and far-right parties. In a statement included in the draft resolution, they claimed the conclusions were “based on subjective opinions and politically biased statements” that reflected “vague concerns, value judgments and double standards”.
These MEPs also claimed that the report was based on “cases that were decided long ago by the responsible bodies or that concern issues that are part of the public debate and fall under the exclusive competence of the Member States”.
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