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Brussels has objected to Hungary’s sweeping new domestic security law, opening up another front in its stand-off with the country’s prime minister Viktor Orbán.
The European Commission has sent a letter to Budapest starting formal infringement proceedings over the Defence of Sovereignty law, which could lead to legal action. Orbán has said the legislation is necessary to protect the country from foreign interference.
“The commission argues that the law violates EU law, in particular when it comes to the principle of democracy and the electoral rights of EU citizens,” said spokesperson Anitta Hipper.
It was also concerned about Budapest’s new Sovereignty Protection Authority, which was set up to root out foreign influence in politics, academia and the media. The body, which started work on February 1, is not subject to judicial oversight. Critics say it will be used to harass Orbán’s domestic opponents and stifle debate.
“The set up of a new authority with wide ranging powers and a strict regime of monitoring, enforcement and sanctioning also risks seriously harming democracy in Hungary,” she said.
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács defended the law, which was enacted in December. “Brussels and the masters of the dollar-financed leftists attack the sovereignty protection law because it aims to stop foreign influence via [US billionaire George] Soros,” he said in a post on Facebook.
Soros, a Hungarian-born philanthropist, has clashed for years with Orbán, who considers him a leading culprit for the perceived ills of liberal western nations.
Brussels is withholding around €20bn in EU funds from Budapest for breaches of the rule of law and concerns over corruption. But members of the European parliament attacked the commission in December for releasing €10bn to Orbán in return for judicial reforms, ahead of a summit at which he threatened to veto membership talks with Ukraine.
He dropped that threat but only approved the €50bn funding package for Kyiv at an emergency European Council meeting on February 1.
Commission officials were startled by the bill’s powers during its drafting but refrained from comment to avoid the risk of Orbán vetoing the Ukraine package, according to people briefed on the discussions.
The four biggest parliamentary groups wrote to commission president Ursula von der Leyen in December to condemn the €10bn package for Budapest, arguing the security law will override the judicial reforms.
“This commission has been weak on rule of law. Now they finally wake up to Orbán,” Bas Eickhout, joint lead election candidate for the Green party, told the Financial Times.
The other 26 member states “only get annoyed by Orbán now because he is obstructing the council’s cosy mood. They didn’t give a shit when he was dismantling the judicial system or the freedom of press, when NGOs are being attacked.”
The Council of Europe, the continent’s rights watchdog, warned late last year that the authority’s legal basis is “so vague that [its] invasive scrutiny could be weaponised against anybody who may be considered an adversary due, for instance, to ‘activities aimed at influencing democratic debate’”.
Tamás Lánczi, head of the Sovereignty Protection Authority, told the pro-Orbán daily Magyar Nemzet last month that the office would not “conduct investigations, as it is not a secret service, police or prosecutor’s office. But you can co-operate with those state bodies, you can request information from them”. Lánczi has not replied to requests for comments on the new body.
Hungarian NGOs, opposition politicians and diplomats have criticised the moves to strengthen security.
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union said when the bill was introduced in November that the government’s “tools have become harsher. This law protects [Orbán’s] arbitrary power”.
The commission argued that the law also breached data protection and single market laws and civil rights such as freedom of assembly.
US ambassador David Pressman told the FT that the Sovereignty Protection Authority had “no parallel in any democracy in the world”.
Orbán accused critics in December of being “mercenaries” funded by foreign powers, adding that their comments “amount to a confession”.
Hungary has two months to reply to the letter of formal notice. The commission could refer the matter to the European Court of Justice if its concerns are not addressed.
Additional reporting by Alice Hancock, Ben Hall and Paola Tamma
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