Hungarian Conservative

There is a lesser-known but in many ways much more influential pillar of the EU’s institutional system than the Commission, the Parliament, and the Council: the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is quietly but steadily building an ever closer union.

‘The Hungarian presidency has just begun, but every opportunity is being seized to obstruct it, as it offers the Hungarian government the chance to present its vision of an alternative Europe to the entire continent,’ the Center for Fundamental Rights stress in their analysis. They also note that the Hungarian PM’s visit to Kyiv took the international press by surprise, as the liberal media has consistently and falsely portrayed Hungary’s stance as pro-Russian from the start, a claim that Viktor Orbán has now clearly disproved.

‘I firmly believe the EU is in dire need of a rule of law instrument but this instrument should be turned upside down. It should guarantee that the principle of rule of law developed and applied in Member States is similarly implemented in the activities of EU institutions.’

‘If we are looking for a more idealistic, right-wing conservative solution to the puzzle, we have to question the current form of the EU as it is. It may be appealing to the economic right, but it contains very little for the social right. This would mean either a radical restructuring of the EU to align towards more of these values or its reduction to a mere economic cooperation platform.’

‘Hungary is set to take over the rotating EU Presidency in July 2024, a development that has provoked mixed feelings among certain political factions…Nonetheless, Hungary has proven to be a formidable participant in these disputes, fully aware of its rights within the EU legal framework and prepared to advocate for them vigorously.’

The Group of Friends, the nine EU member states that are pushing for the reform of decision-making in the Union, view unanimous decision-making as a weapon. But in fact, as Dryzek and Niemeyer put it, unanimity is ‘the gold standard of political justification’, as ‘it is the only rule of preference concentration that grants Pareto optimality’.

The French and German political elites have apparently grown tired of the never-ending debates about the present and future of the European Union, which are impeding the integration goals they wish to see, and now want to force them to an end. In some ways, this would also mean a break with the ‘Europa auf Augenhöhe’ (‘Europe at eye level’) policy that made the EU so attractive in the 1990s, and it is to be expected that the ‘problematic’ member states of Central and Eastern Europe will not let this pass without a fight.

The European Parliament’s new campaign proposal would not only end the foreign affairs veto by amending the EU treaties but would also give the EU more power in the area of the rule of law and migration. As part of that overreach attempt, it would also suspend Hungary’s right to hold the EU presidency.

Hungarian Ombudsman Ákos Kozma urged his Austrian counterpart Gaby Schwarz in a letter sent earlier this week to help find a solution to the conflict around the Ágfalva–Schattendorf border crossing.

Although it is perfectly legitimate to suggest that the noise pollution caused by the huge number of vehicles passing through his town needs to be addressed, the solution is not to penalise those who cross the border. Possible, more constructive solutions may include the improvement of the community transport infrastructure at local level or the opening of new crossing points so that those wishing to enter Austria are distributed more proportionately.

The Hungarian government has recently announced a significant legal initiative: under the Hungarian Council presidency, the creation of a new rule of law assessment procedure overseeing EU institutions could be put on the agenda.

‘We should not turn a blind eye to the EP representatives who seem to be out of line with their role. Repositioning the power of the EP is actually part of a wider phenomenon that tries to outsource political decision-making from the democratic frameworks of the Member States and thereby reduce the influence of voters on the fate of their own country.’