The European Parliament adopted by 393 votes to 221, with 64 abstentions, a resolution on the situation in Hungary.
The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the S&D, ALDE, GUE/NGL and Greens/EFA groups.
Regretting that the developments in Hungary have led to a serious deterioration of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights over the past few years, Parliament stated that the current situation represents a clear risk of a serious breach of the values referred to in Article 2 of the TEU and warrants the launch of the Article 7(1) TEU procedure in order to establish whether there is a 'clear risk of a serious breach' of EU values by a Member State.
Members instructed its Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs therefore to initiate the proceedings and draw up a specific report with a view to holding a plenary vote on a reasoned proposal calling on the Council to act.
The resolution called on the Hungarian authorities to:
- engage in a dialogue with the Commission on all issues mentioned in this resolution, in particular the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, freedom of association, freedom of education and academic research, segregation of Roma in education, and protection of pregnant women in work;
- repeal, in the meantime, the act amending certain acts related to increasing the strictness of procedures carried out in the areas of border management and asylum and the act amending the National Higher Education Act, and to withdraw the proposed Act on the Transparency of Organisations Receiving Support from Abroad;
- start immediate dialogue with the relevant US authorities in order to guarantee the future operations of the Central European University issuing US-accredited degrees, and to make a public commitment that the university can remain in Budapest as a free institution.
The Commission is called upon to strictly monitor the use of EU funds by the Hungarian Government so as to ensure that any co-financed project is fully compliant with EU primary law.
Stressing that Hungary is a test for the EU to prove its capacity and willingness to react to threats and breaches of its own founding values by a Member State, Parliament noted with concern that developments in some other Member States show worrying signs of similar undermining of the rule of law as in Hungary. It reiterated the need for a regular process of monitoring and dialogue involving all Member States in order to safeguard the EU’s fundamental values of democracy.