The European Commission announced today that it is filing a lawsuit against Hungary before the Court of Justice of the European Union in connection with the controversial "sovereignty" law, adopted at the end of 2023, was reported by France Press and Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Brussels believes that this text, adopted at the initiative of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a nationalist, violates European law. “Having made a thorough assessment of the response of the Hungarian authorities, the European Commission claims that most of the complaints mentioned have not yet been addressed,” the EC said in a statement.
The custodial sentence law creates a watchdog designed to prevent “foreign interference” in the electoral process and “protects sovereignty” of the country.
NGOs and opponents of Orbán see this as a new attack aimed at silencing the forces opposing him. In February, the EC expressed serious concern about this issue and started legal proceedings against Hungary with a letter of formal notice for violations of European Union law.
The Hungarian government has warned it will not back down, marking another episode in the enduring confrontation between Orbán and his EU partners. Budapest regularly accuses Brussels and "various foreign organizations", especially American ones, of "allocating billions of euros" of the opposition to "influence the choice of the voters".
Hungary's legislative package, drawn up ahead of European and local elections in June 2024, creates an "independent sovereignty protection service" tasked with "investigating illegal attacks" that threaten national security. The activities of organizations receiving foreign funding are affected, AFP notes.
Several human rights NGOs, including "Amnesty International" (Amnesty International), accuse the government of wanting to "silence critical voices", believing that "journalists, business, trade unions, churches and municipalities" may be subject to assault.
The US said it was "concerned" of a "law inconsistent with our shared values of democracy, personal liberty and the rule of law" which gives the government "draconian tools that can be used to intimidate and punish people whose views are not shared by the ruling party". ; FIDES.