We are nearing the EU review of Hungary’s progress in meeting the conditions for EU funding. Together with our civil society partners, Amnesty International Hungary prepared an assessment of Hungary’s compliance with conditions to access EU funds. Meaningful progress has not yet been achieved as serious deficiencies regarding the rule of law and human rights persist.
In 2022, European Union institutions suspended and tied to conditions Hungary’s access to EU funds under various procedures because of the country’s severe breaches of the rule of law and human rights. We are approaching the review by EU institutions of Hungary’s efforts to regain access to EU funds under the conditionality mechanism. Amnesty International Hungary, together with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, K-Monitor, and Transparency International Hungary, prepared an assessment (the shortened, summary table-version can be found here), of Hungary’s compliance with conditions to access EU funds. Taken together, these developments paint a worrying picture, with meaningful progress largely absent.
The Hungarian government needso to comply with 27 so-called super milestones that are a set of key rule-of-law and anti-corruption reforms, including the anti-corruption framework, competition in public procurement, judicial independence, the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, refugees, and asylum-seekers, among other problematic areas. So far, 1 super milestone remains unachieved, and 9 are only partially completed. In some areas, no progress has been made at all since our latest assessment. Many required measures are delayed, and flaws in the regulations and their enforcement prevent meaningful progress. Moreover, several developments since last year have further undermined human rights, including:
- Legislative amendments (including the amendment of the Fundamental Law) through which the government banned LGBTQI+ related assemblies, and further restricted the rights of LGBTQI+ persons.
- The Bill on the Transparency of Public Life was tabled, through which the Government would be authorised to arbitrarily blacklist CSOs, independent media, and even for-profit companies that voice dissent, deemed “sovereignty risks”. This could even lead to the eventual dissolution of the targeted entities.
- The recently introduced Local Identity Law enables systemic discrimination in settlement rules, through which any municipality can restrict who moves into or purchases property on its territory. This has already been implemented in numerous municipalities, and leads to systemic discrimination of poor people and people who belong to the Roma community.
Evidently, the government has not taken adequate steps to address the milestones. This demonstrates a clear lack of commitment to restoring the rule of law or respecting human rights in Hungary. We compiled a list of recommendations for the Hungarian authorities regarding legislative changes to ensure compliance with the requirements.
We urge the Hungarian government to take the milestones seriously and take measures to address them adequately as regaining EU funds is our common interest.