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According to the Court of Justice Advocate General’s opinion, the fact that under the Hungarian 2017 Lex NGO, civil society organisations receiving foreign donations are subject to restrictions violates the right to the protection of private life and the right to freedom of association and infringes the principle of free movement of capital. This is not justified by the general interest objectives relied on by the government of Hungary.

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On 12 November 2019, the Hungarian Government submitted a Bill to the Parliament which, if adopted, will have a significant negative impact on judicial independence, however, in a much more covert and technical way than the earlier, withdrawn plan to put administrative courts under the Minister of Justice.

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The Acting President of the Budapest-Capital Regional Court (Fővárosi Törvényszék) initiated disciplinary proceedings against Judge Csaba Vasvári for referring questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) under Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The motion, which argues that the content of the questions violates the “dignity of the judiciary”, is unprecedented in Hungary.

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Hungarian NGOs rebut the Hungarian Government’s false or misleading statements and point out its lack of adequate reaction to EP concerns in the Article 7 procedure against Hungary

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Following a judgment concluding that the removal of the Supreme Court President in 2012 was prompted by the criticism he voiced, the CoE called on Hungary to protect the freedom of expression of judges, but to no avail: today, judges are facing retaliatory measures and media attacks once again for voicing professional criticism.

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Slowly, Steadily, Stealthily How Rule of Law Is Further Undermined in Hungary January – September 2019 On 12 September 2018, the European Parliament voted to trigger proceedings against Hungary under Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union on account of the systemic threat to the core values of the EU.

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New briefing paper by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International Hungary on the constitutional crisis in the Hungarian judiciary. The paper outlines key developments since January 2018, both regarding the ordinary court system and the prospect of the new administrative courts. We also make recommendations to resolve the crisis.

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We, the undersigned civil society organisations working in the Civilisation Coalition, stand up for the freedom of research guaranteed by the Fundamental Law, and express our solidarity with researchers and organisations opposing the Government’s plans for the operation and financing of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

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Thirty-five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and two former Ombudspersons, Jenő Kaltenbach and László Majtényi turned to the President of the Republic, Janos Áder in an open letter yesterday. In the letter, the President is called to ensure open competition and consultation with NGOs in the process of selecting the new Commissioner for Fundamental Rights.

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This June the Parliament will elect the President of the new Supreme Administrative Court, who will have extremely wide powers over judges and cases concerning a range of issues from taxation to human rights. But legislation allows that someone with zero days of judicial experience may be elected without any professional screening.

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