In its announcement, the General Assembly underlined that, according to the country report adopted on Wednesday, the problems affecting democracy and the state of the rule of law in Hungary remain largely unsolved.
It was announced: with the decision, Hungary joins the ten member states of the Council of Europe - Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine - which are also under "full control". This type of control includes the regular visit of the competent PACE rapporteur to the country concerned, continuous dialogue with the local authorities, and periodic evaluation of whether the given member state complies with the obligations and commitments of the Council of Europe, they informed.
In its decision, the general assembly took the position that the widespread application of pivotal laws requiring a two-thirds majority in Hungary seriously limits political pluralism as the basis of democratic systems. The recently adopted Hungarian legislative changes and the problems related to the electoral law mean that the current electoral framework does not provide equal conditions for holding fair elections, they wrote.
The General Assembly expressed its concern that since 2020, Hungary has applied a special legal order that enables the use of the state of emergency. Such regulations must be strictly necessary, proportionate and limited in time, they said.
It was also announced that the General Assembly took note of the 17 amendments to the effective Hungarian laws announced last month, which aim to improve the functioning of democratic institutions, strengthen transparency and tighten conflict of interest rules. In this context, the Hungarian authorities were asked to seek the opinion of the competent experts of the Council of Europe on the changes.
Fidesz: A political witch hunt is underway against Hungary
In a statement written by Zsolt Németh, head of the Hungarian delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and Nacsa Lőrinc, a member of the delegation, it was written: the left-wing majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, with the effective help of the Hungarian left-wing representatives, accepted the report on Hungary on Wednesday. This was evaluated as a biased political indictment full of factual errors.
They called it eloquent that one of the main goals of the left with the report is for Hungary to abolish the Child Protection Act.
The report is contrary to the goals of the Council of Europe and hinders dialogue based on mutual respect, the major government party said in a statement.
They added: the left is attacking Hungary because the government pursues a successful Christian-democratic policy, does not give in on the issue of illegal migration and demands a review of the sanctions.
MTI / 2022plus
Photo: European Parliament
