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Hungary and the Indirect Protection of EU Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

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According to Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, the European Union is a political and economic union founded on a respect for fundamental rights and the rule of law, referred to hereafter as EU fundamental values. The central place of this commitment in the EU Treaties suggests a founding assumption: That the EU is a Union of states who themselves see human rights and the rule of law as irrevocable parts of their political and legal order. Reminiscent of the entry of Jorg Haider's far-right Freedom Party into the Austrian government in 2000, the events of 2012 have done much to shake that assumption; questioning both how interwoven the rule of law tradition is across the present-day EU, and the role the EU ought to play in policing potential violations of fundamental rights carried out via the constitutional frameworks of its Member States. Much attention in this field, much like the focus of this paper, has been placed on events in one state in particular: Hungary.

Type
Lisbon vs. Lisbon Part I: Engaging the Fundamentals
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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27 Consolidated TEU, supra note 1, at art. 7, § 2.Google Scholar

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33 For an expansion on this theme, see generally Mark Dawson, Elise Muir & Monica Claes, Enforcing the EU's Rights Revolution: The Case of Equality, 3 Eur. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 276 (2012).Google Scholar

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35 On the scope of the application of the Charter, see Joined Cases C-411/10 & C-493/10, N. S. v. Sec'y of State for the Home Dep't and M. E. v. Refugee Applications Comm'r, paras. 64–69.Google Scholar

36 This methodology has been confirmed in case law following the Lisbon Treaty's formal incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. See, e.g., Case C-145/09, Land Baden-Württemberg v. Tsakouridis, 2010 E.C.R. I-12013.Google Scholar

37 Case C-34/09, Zambrano v. Office National de L'emploi, 2011 E.C.R. I-01177.Google Scholar

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49 This point is also noticeable in respect to the existing infringement actions against the Hungarian government. The action in respect to the retirement of judges is not, for example, based on the Charter or any norm regarding the independence of the judiciary, but on age discrimination and potential violations of Council Directive 2000/78, 2000 O.J. (L 303) 16 (EC).Google Scholar

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68 Although the wording of Art. 16(2) of the TFEU actually restricts legislative powers to the protection of personal data that falls within the scope of EU law and relates to the free movement of such data. Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union art. 16(2), Sep. 5, 2008, 2008 O.J. (C 83) 55 [hereinafter TFEU].Google Scholar

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81 The threat was nonetheless lifted; it would seem that “a deal was struck.” See Viktor and Victor: Lessons from Budapest to Bucharest, The Economist, July 14, 2012.Google Scholar

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83 See, for example, the failure to enforce EDP's against France and Germany in 2003.Google Scholar

84 See generally Press Release, European Council, Remarks Following the Meeting of President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy with Prime Minister of Romania, Victor Ponta (July 12, 2012), available at http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/131707.pdf; Valentina Pop, EU Warns Romania on Rule of Law, EU Observer, July 6, 2012, http://euobserver.com/843/116896.Google Scholar

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