The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) on Wednesday, November 5th, adopted its second interim report on the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, reigniting one of the EU’s longest-running political disputes.
The report, drafted by Dutch Green MEP Tineke Strik, passed with 51 votes in favour, 21 against, and two abstentions.
It accuses Hungary of becoming a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy” and calls on the European Council—the member states—to finally advance the procedure that could suspend the country’s voting rights within the EU.
The document reiterates earlier claims about democratic backsliding and the erosion of judicial independence in Hungary, asserting that the situation has worsened since the European Parliament first triggered Article 7 in 2018.
Among its ‘concerns’ are the alleged political influence over the Hungarian judiciary, the review of EU Court judgements by the country’s supreme court, the weakening of the National Judicial Council, and what it calls a “systematic refusal” to implement European Court of Human Rights rulings.
The report—which will be debated and put to a plenary vote in Strasbourg later this month—also cites corruption concerns, the misuse of EU funds, and restrictions on academic and media freedoms.
Hungarian government officials and MEPs, however, argue that the process has never been about ‘the rule of law,’ but is a tool to punish Hungary for its conservative policies and refusal to align with the EU’s liberal agenda.
Kinga Gál, a Fidesz MEP, wrote on X that the vote was “yet another shameful step in the series of politically motivated attacks against Hungary,” claiming that the country was being targeted for not sending weapons to Ukraine, refusing to accept illegal migrants, and rejecting gender ideology in schools.
Today, @EP_Justice voted on a report on the Article 7 procedure against Hungary. This is yet another shameful step in the series of politically motivated attacks against Hungary going on for years.
🧷@PatriotsEP attached a minority opinion to the report stating that Hungary is…
Her colleague, András László, asserted that the European Parliament wants to act as “prosecutor, judge, and jury” at once. He noted that several of the criticisms in the report—concerning foreign policy, education, and family law—fall outside EU competences.
The latest move to have angered Brussels earlier this year was the decision by Viktor Orbán’s government to ban Pride parades and public events promoting LGBT identities—a measure intended to protect children from being influenced by harmful ideologies at an early age.
The Hungarian government has consistently maintained that its national policies reflect democratic mandates, not breaches of EU law.
The broader dispute highlights growing tensions between Brussels and Budapest over sovereignty, migration, and social policy. Hungary continues to face the freezing of more than €18 billion in EU funds, officially over concerns about corruption and judicial independence.
The corruption accusations against the Orbán government seem particularly rich in light of one corruption scandal after the other engulfing the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Despite years of debate, there is little sign of consensus among member states on how to proceed. Advancing Article 7 would require the support of at least four-fifths of EU governments, with unanimity needed to impose sanctions—an unlikely prospect.
Zoltán Kottász is a journalist for europeanconservative.com, based in Budapest. He worked for many years as a journalist and as the editor of the foreign desk at the Hungarian daily, Magyar Nemzet. He focuses primarily on European politics.
