Not much time left for Brussels

The rule of law report is an ideological debate in a legal guise.

BELGIUM-EU-POLITICS-SUMMIT-PRESSER Fotó: JOHN THYS

The institution of the rule of law report has just a few years of  history in Brussels, but its importance far exceeds its age: once an informative document, it has come to entail very serious consequences by now, for example the fate of the money that Hungary is entitled to, but still withheld depends on it. Practically, it is a "progress report" for each member state in Brussels to evaluate how well a government in question has managed to meet the expectations of bureaucrats. Needless to say, Poland's and in particular Hungary's reports are typically rather condemning. 

Over the years, we have become accustomed to the fact that rule of law reports actually convey messages on ideological issues wrapped in legal jargon. If Brussels is unhappy with any of the policies adopted by the sovereign Hungarian national government, we can expect that this will not go unanswered. Whether it is migration, child protection or gender, we can certainly expect messages in some legal guise. This year, the war was also included in this circle of issues, with criticism over holding a national consultation survey in Hungary on the flawed sanctions Brussels introduced in response to the war in Ukraine.

The rule of law report is part of Brussels's blackmail machinery, which is one of the 'top products' of EU policy operating according to its own rules. In fashionable terms, Brussels's policy is a "circular economy" with "zero waste", nothing goes down the drain. Any criticism against Hungary, regardless of its truth content, whether coming from Brussels, the pro-war dollar Left or NGOs funded by George Soros, will later become a reference point in further documents. And this whole process culminates in annual reports like this last one.
While the Hungarian government has been making steady progress since the end of last year in meeting the so-called super milestones necessary to unlock the withheld funds, Brussels keeps finding excuses as to why Hungary's performance cannot be accepted. For example, MEP Daniel Freund, an eternal critic of our country, recently stated that the Hungarian government has not yet fulfilled any of its twenty-seven commitments. The report echoes this kind of cynical rhetoric, being rather restrained about the possible future positive effects of the Hungarian provisions. 

Meanwhile, however, there are parts of the report where issues emerge that really anger Brussels in the Hungarian government's policies. For example, the rejection of illegal migration as a solution to Europe's demographic problems. The report calls on the government to facilitate the activities of NGOs organising immigration, for example by eliminating regulations that make their operation more difficult and abolishing the special immigration tax. A clear message from Brussels: no one can stand in the way of George Soros's network with impunity when masses of people who are unable to integrate are brought to Europe. The outcome has clearly manifested in the streets of Paris. 

While policy makers in Brussels have no intention to curb illegal migration, they are pushing for mandatory resettlement quotas. This shows that the liberal elites want to somehow shift the problem they are faced with onto countries that do not support migration. This is typical of the way things work in the European Union: the enlightened Western states export their own problems to the eastern and southern states, and then pretentiously declare that they have no problems, but look at the resistive states...
The gender issue is a recurrent theme in Brussels's criticism. First of all, the child protection law is still a real thorn in their side. Just recall that its adoption opened the way for Hungary's financial blackmail: Ursula von der Leyen had already booked a flight to Budapest to announce the approval of the recovery plan, but the trip was mysteriously cancelled when the law was passed, and we have not seen any money from this fund since. However, this is a loan, which means that Hungary will have to pay its instalments from 2028, and now, with the EU's financial collapse looming, Brussels needs extra 100 billion euros partly to pay the increased interest rates. The same happened to the Poles: although their recovery plan had been approved, no actual payments were released. The latest report continues to criticise the child protection law, and Brussels clearly expects its abolition.

The document also identifies the lack of sensitisation of judges as a problem, pointing out that insufficient training is organised for judges to facilitate "communication with LGBTIQ persons". The practical outcome of such sensitisation is, of course, that courts will bring decisions more to the liking of Brussels. Even in the absence of such training, courts have issued interesting decisions, take the recent controversial ruling issued by a court in Veszprem establishing that a transgender person could be entitled to women's pension benefits. Just imagine the rulings that would be made if this kind of activism could be extended to the entire judiciary! Of course, putting the emphasis on the courts is understandable: since the rolling dollars failed to sway voters and blackmailing Hungary with the fiances and the war also being a failure, there is no alternative left but to win over the third branch of power, the courts.

In addition to the above, the report, rather hypocritically, includes another eloquent example of Brussels's use of double standards: the issue of corruption. While Brussels is experiencing the aftershocks of the worst corruption scandal in the EU's history – let there be no doubt, there will be no real consequences, just some fuding around – the report criticises the effectiveness of the Hungarian government's anti-corruption measures. In an extremely cynical way, the EP report condemning our country was also voted for by Marc Tarabella, a Belgian left-wing MEP, who had recently been released from arrest. Yes, that is how shameless the members of the Brussels elite really are.

The rule of law report includes the customary condemnation of our country, dominated by issues such as the judiciary, media conditions or gender, issues that are no business of the EU under the treaties. When we reading it, we must never forget that the real purpose of the report is to continue our blackmail, which is ultimately aimed at bringing down Hungary's national government or effecting a change in its policies. However, the Hungarian government has made it clear that there is no question of backing down on any of the three political slogans ('no migration, no gender, no war') that Viktor Orban set out at CPAC Hungary.

There's not much time left for Brussels with the EP elections coming up next year, and who knows what's next. We have hope that we can start draining the swamp in Brussels.

The author is a senior analyst at the Center for Fundamental Rights

Cover photo: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (Photo: Europress/AFP)