Rule of law in Hungary

16/1/2018

QUESTION　


Question No. 148　

Parliamentary Question - Oireachtas　
　
To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of recent EU efforts to address issues in relation to the rule of law in Hungary; and if he will make a statement on the matter.　
- Darragh O'Brien.　
* For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 16th January, 2018.　
Ref No: 1503/18　

REPLY　



On 7 December 2018, the European Commission announced that it was referring Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to three ongoing infringement proceedings: The first, also involving Poland and the Czech Republic, relates to the mandatory relocation issue and the failure to take refugees in accordance with the September 2015 Justice and Home Affairs Council Decision. The other two referrals relate to the laws on higher education (the “Lex CEU”) and on NGOs adopted in 2017. In the case of these latter two issues, Hungary is considered to have failed to address EU concerns about these laws or amend the legislation to bring it in line with EU standards. 　
The Taoiseach also raised concerns over rule of law issues with Prime Minister Orban during their meeting on 4 January last.　
It is my hope that Hungary and the European Commission will engage on these important issues and that, ultimately, a resolution may be achieved.