欧洲议会议员在新报告中宣称，匈牙利不再是一个完全的民主国家，而是一个“选举专制国家”
作者：Jorge Liboreiro 和 Sandor Zsiros， 2022 年 9 月 15 日 - 2022 年 9 月 16 日更新
欧洲议会议员援引国际指数表示，匈牙利不能再被视为完全民主国家。欧洲议会议员认为，欧盟缺乏果断行动导致匈牙利“民主、法治和基本权利崩溃”。
欧洲议会成员周四在一份不具约束力但极具象征意义的报告中宣布，匈牙利不再是一个功能齐全的民主国家。相反，该国应被视为“选举专制的混合政权”，定期举行选举，但不尊重基本的民主规范。
立法者们表示：“专家们越来越一致地认为，匈牙利不再是一个民主国家。”他们援引了近年来降低匈牙利地位的一系列国际指数。
欧洲议会议员在决议中将矛头直指自2010年以来一直执政的总理欧尔班·维克托，并谴责其政府“蓄意、系统地”破坏欧盟核心价值观。
立法者对他们认为受到威胁的一长串基本权利表示担忧，包括选举制度、司法独立、隐私、言论自由、媒体多元化、学术自由、LGBTIQ 权利以及对少数群体和寻求庇护者的保护。
欧洲议会议员还批评欧盟机构放任民主倒退。
临时报告称，议会“对欧盟缺乏果断行动导致匈牙利民主、法治和基本权利崩溃，使该国变成选举专制的混合政权深表遗憾”。
周四，该文本以 433 票赞成、123 票反对、28 票弃权的大幅优势获得通过。
该报告由与绿党同席的法国欧洲议会议员格温多琳·德尔博斯-科菲尔德 (Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield) 领导，审查了自 2018 年半周期触发第七条程序以来匈牙利所发生的事态发展。
据信，这是欧盟机构首次宣布某个成员国不是适当的民主国家，而这是加入欧盟的必要先决条件。
“匈牙利的局势急剧恶化，”投票前一天，德尔博斯-科菲尔德告诉欧洲新闻。 “我们到处都在退化，现在（这个国家）不再是一个民主国家。”
第七条被视为核选项，可以剥夺成员国在欧盟决策中的投票权，但需要理事会一致投票才能推进。另一个受第七条约束的国家波兰已与匈牙利达成协议，以阻止对方的程序。
欧洲议会议员警告说：“任何进一步拖延此类行动都将构成安理会本身违反法治原则的行为。”
除了侵犯基本权利外，报告还表示，匈牙利针对腐败、公共行政中的依附主义和裙带关系以及公共采购方面的缺陷采取的行动“有限”。
匈牙利总理维克托·欧尔班对此消息做出反应，表示他觉得这“很有趣”。
“我们不嘲笑它的唯一原因是我们对此感到厌倦。这是一个无聊的笑话，”报告获得批准的第二天，欧尔班说道。 “这是他们第三次或第四次在欧洲议会通过谴责匈牙利的决议。起初，我们认为这很重要。但现在我们认为这是一个笑话。”
欧盟现金受到审查
匈牙利多年来一直受到布鲁塞尔的严格审查。
欧盟委员会于四月推出了所谓的条件机制，这是一种新制度，当欧盟的金融利益可能受到威胁时，可以冻结一个国家在欧盟预算中的分配份额。
欧盟预算专员约翰内斯·哈恩 (Johannes Hahn) 提议，如果匈牙利政府未能采取必要措施加强民主标准并有效打击腐败，则削减匈牙利 70% 的资金。确切的百分比将于本周日得到确认。
匈牙利每年收到超过 60 亿欧元的欧盟资金，其中大部分用于支持凝聚力项目。
除此之外，匈牙利仍然是唯一没有批准 COVID-19 恢复计划的成员国。委员会已要求进行改革，以换取绿色照明计划，价值 58 亿欧元的赠款。
随着能源危机恶化和通货膨胀飙升，布达佩斯已开始向布鲁塞尔伸出援手，以释放现金。本月早些时候，欧尔班总理签署了一项法令，建立一个反腐败机构，以及一个由政府和非政府代表组成的独立工作组。
议会的报告u
Hungary is no longer a full democracy but an 'electoral autocracy,' MEPs declare in new report
By Jorge Liboreiro & Sandor Zsiros， 15/09/2022 - Updated 16/09/2022
Instead, the country should be considered a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy" in which elections are regularly held but without respecting basic democratic norms.
"There is increasing consensus among experts that Hungary is no longer a democracy," the lawmakers said, citing a series of international indexes that have in recent years downgraded Hungary's status.
In their resolution, MEPs point the finger directly at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power since 2010, and condemn his government's "deliberate and systematic efforts" to undermine the EU's core values.
Lawmakers raise concerns about a long list of fundamental rights they believe to be under threat, including the electoral system, the independence of judiciary, privacy, freedom of expression, media pluralism, academic freedom, LGBTIQ rights and the protection of minorities and asylum seekers.
MEPs also criticised the EU institutions for allowing democratic backsliding to go unchecked.
The Parliament "expresses deep regret that the lack of decisive EU action has contributed to a breakdown in democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, turning the country into a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy," the interim report reads.
The text passed by a wide margin on Thursday: 433 votes in favour, 123 against and 28 abstentions.
Led by Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, a French MEP who sits with the Greens, the report examines the developments that have taken place in Hungary since the hemicycle triggered the Article 7 procedure in 2018.
This is believed to be the first time an EU institution declares a member state is not a proper democracy, an essential prerequisite to join the bloc.
"The situation in Hungary has dramatically degraded," Delbos-Corfield told Euronews the day before the vote. "Everywhere, we have degradation and it has become now that [the country] is no more a democracy."
Article 7, seen as the nuclear option, can deprive a member state of its voting rights in EU policy-making but requires a unanimity vote in the Council to move forward. Poland, another country subject to Article 7, has struck a deal with Hungary to block each other's procedure.
"Any further delay to such action would amount to a breach of the rule of law principle by the Council itself," MEPs warn.
Besides breaches of fundamental rights, the report also says there has been "limited" action against corruption in Hungary, clientelism and nepotism in public administration, as well as deficiencies in public procurement.
Reacting to the news, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he found it "funny."
"The only reason we don’t laugh at it is because we’re bored of it. It's a boring joke," Orbán said a day after the report was approved. "It’s the third or fourth time they’ve passed a resolution condemning Hungary in the European Parliament. At first, we thought it was significant. But now we see it as a joke."
EU cash under scrutiny
Hungary has for years been under intensifying scrutiny from Brussels.
The European Commission launched in April the so-called conditionality mechanism, a new system that can freeze a country's allocated share of the EU budget when the bloc's financial interests are potentially endangered.
Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for budget, has proposed a 70% cut in Hungary's funding if the government fails to implement the necessary measures to strengthen democratic standards and effectively fight corruption. The exact percentage will be confirmed this Sunday.
Every year, Hungary receives over €6 billion in EU funds, most of which support cohesion projects.
In addition to this, Hungary remains the only member state without an approved COVID-19 recovery plan. The Commission has asked for reforms in exchange for green lighting the plan, worth €5.8 billion in grants.
As the energy crisis worsens and inflation soars, Budapest has begun making overtures to Brussels in a bid to release the cash. Prime Minister Orbán signed earlier this month a decree to establish an anti-corruption agency, together with a separate task force with both governmental and non-governmental delegates.
The Parliament's report urges the Commission to refrain from approving the recovery plan until all rule-of-law reforms are put in place and prevent funding for cohesion projects that might entail legal breaches.
"My recommendation [for the Commission] would be not to be fooled by pretended reforms," said Delbos-Corfield. "The Commission needs to be serious on the real changes we need."
But for Kinga Gál, a Hungarian MEP who belongs to the Fidesz party, the rhetoric expressed by the Parliament's report is not conducive to a resolution.
"What we see is that, while a constructive negotiation is going on between the European Commission and the Hungarian government, stigmatisation, incitement, and problem-making are taking place here [in the Parliament]," she told reporters in Strasbourg.
"Thank you very much: we do not ask for this dictation."
Gál's comments were echoed in a minority opinion attached at the end of the report and signed by a small group of far-right MEPs from Spain, France, Poland, Italy and Hungary.
"This text is yet another attempt by the federalist European political parties to attack Hungary and its Christian-democratic, conservative government for ideological reasons," they wrote.
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