It was necessary for an American NGO to set foot in the dish. "Hungary can no longer be regarded as a democracy," writes Freedom House, which scrutinizes freedoms in the former communist countries. In ten years in power, Viktor Orban has "unbalanced in his favor the electoral system, taken control of most of the media and harassed civil society", denounces the annual report of the organization. It is the first time that a country in the European Union has fallen into the “hybrid regime” category, between democracy and authoritarian regime.
In Brussels, a Commission spokesperson reacted, reaffirming that "the EU will remain the defender of European values". But as often, in official declarations, he remained general, taking care not to pronounce the word "Hungary".
Europeans give the impression of helplessness against the strong man of Budapest. "Nothing in the Treaties makes it possible to exclude a member state against its will, or even to suspend its membership," recalls Eric Maurice, of the Schuman Foundation.
Europe, this "immature democracy"
In case of violation of fundamental values, there are only two paths, long and tortuous. First, the Commission can take a country to the European Court of Justice on a specific point of law. It did so on the independence of judges or on the funding of NGOs in Hungary, precisely. But last week, Brussels admitted that it could not find a legal basis to attack the Hungarian law on the state of emergency, which nevertheless gives full powers to the government without a deadline.
The other track is the Article 7 procedure, which some people call "nuclear weapons": it allows the voting rights of a country that goes beyond the limits to be suspended. The European Parliament launched it against Hungary in September 2018. Little chance that it will succeed: it would require a unanimous vote of the 26 other countries. However, Hungary can count on Poland's unfailing support ...
Is democracy on death row? Hungary, Poland, Montenegro and Serbia are leading the decline of democracy and human rights in Europe. #NationsInTransit https://t.co/xP4jJZ2NKx pic.twitter.com/YqEqdanT9a
- Freedom House (@freedomhouse) May 7, 2020To explain the weakness of this arsenal, the environmental MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield recalls that "the European Union is an immature democracy, which does not even have a century". The rapporteur on Hungary in the Strasbourg Parliament points out that the Fidesz d'Orban has long been protected by his political family. Today, he is suspended, but not excluded from the European People's Party, to which the Republicans or Angela Merkel's CDU belong. "The awareness was long," blows the elected official. "Internal resistance remains strong enough, because an exclusion could tip Fidesz to the far right," said Eric Maurice.
Viktor Orban will he be able to continue flirting safely with the red lines? His opponents want to believe that no, they would like, for example, to condition the future obtaining of European funds to respect for the rule of law. Again, this will take time.
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The report is severe: to enter the European Union, you have to show your free hand on rights and freedoms. But once the door of the club crossed, difficult to force a country to respect the common values…
