The European Commission is ready to use the mechanism for suspending Hungary’s rights in the EU in accordance with Article 7 of the EU Treaty, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said.
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“Regarding the seventh article: you know that the European Commission is open to dialogue with the Council on the Rule of Law. <…> If a clear signal is received from the EU countries to make such a decision, of course, the European Commission will implement this position of the member countries,” – said the European official.
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This is how he answered a question from journalists whether the EU is ready to initiate a procedure for depriving Hungary of its rights in the community “due to systematic violations of the principles of the rule of law.”
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Reynders pointed out that the European Commission does not make independent decisions on launching the procedure; the decision must be made by member states.
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Members of the European Parliament insisted on the application of Article 7 against Hungary.
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Article Seven of the Treaty on European Union provides for a procedure for suspending certain rights of a Member State found to be in violation, including, for example, the right to vote. However, there is no procedure for excluding a country from the community.
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In mid-January, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that 20 billion euros of European money remained blocked for Hungary due to problems with the rule of law.
In mid-September 2022, the European Commission proposed launching a special conditionality mechanism in relation to Hungary to ensure the protection of the EU budget “from violations of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary.” This meant freezing some 7.5 billion euros of EU funding for Budapest. The mechanism designed to protect the community budget from corruption was used for the first time. Subsequently, the EC decided to maintain its original proposal to suspend 65 percent of obligations to pay Hungary funds from certain general funds of the European Union, although Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Budapest had fulfilled the entire list of the European Commission’s demands, which related to measures to combat corruption, increase the transparency of public procurement, strengthening the independence of the judicial system.
