"Brussels wants to take away the funds (...) because of its political agenda," said EU Affairs Minister János Bóka.Continue reading
On Tuesday, the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs voted in favor of the European Parliament joining the European Court of Justice’s case against Hungary over the law on the protection of sovereignty. The closed-door vote had 19 votes in favor, only one abstention and one against, reports Népszava.
The lawsuit was brought by the European Commission against Hungary because it says the sovereignty protection law is contrary to EU law. It is the final step in a so-called infringement procedure, as the Commission had already signaled its objections to the Hungarian law a few months after it was adopted at the end of 2023. As no substantive reply to the Commission’s questions has been received, the case has been taken to court. The Hungarian argument was that the Sovereignty Protection Office would protect Hungary against foreign interference.
The Commission, and now the European Parliament, argue that the fact that the activities of the Office are largely excluded from judicial review and that the law sets Hungarian and non-Hungarian activities and interests against each other is contrary to EU law.
In order for the European Parliament to be a legal litigant on the side of the Commission, the President of the European Parliament must instruct the EP’s lawyers. In response to a question from Népszava, the EP press office confirmed that President Roberta Metsola would follow the committee’s recommendation as usual.
Member states may also join the lawsuit to express their agreement with the Commission on the case. So far, the Czech Republic and Denmark have formally joined.
WARNING! Our fears have come true: the globalist-liberal-Soros NGO network is fleeing to Brussels, after President Trump dealt a huge blow to their activities in the US. Now 63 of them are asking Brussels for money, under the guise of various human rights projects. Not going to…
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) February 18, 2025
Reacting to the developments, Fidesz MEP Csaba Dömötör emphasized that
the European Parliament wants to use a lawsuit to prevent Hungary from defending itself against foreign interference.
In a Facebook post, he wrote that the law on the protection of sovereignty was adopted in 2023, “after it was revealed that the campaign of the Hungarian left was financed from abroad to the tune of billions of euros.” Since then, it has been revealed that liberal activist groups attacking national politics have been continuously funded through the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) program, the politician pointed out.
Csaba Dömötör continued by citing the scandal involving former European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, with more and more known about the European Commission’s involvement in funding these activist groups. Furthermore, former Liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt’s ‘civil’ movement alone has received 6 billion euros, and there are Commission directorates-general which alone have been awarded 2,900 contracts, he pointed out. He added that
this means that Hungarian taxpayers’ money has also been used to finance policies that are sharply against Hungary’s interests.
Did you know?
Ultraliberal Guy Verhofstadt runs an NGO called European Movement International.
They received €15 million(!) from EU institutions.
They call it civil society. We call it a political activist group without any democratic legitimacy stuffed with taxpayers’ money.— Dömötör Csaba (@domotor_cs) February 18, 2025
It is also from these programs that activist groups are funded, which then work with illegal immigrants to sue the Hungarian state. In other cases, they produce material that is used as a pretext to withhold EU funds from Hungary, Csaba Dömötör recalled.
In this situation, there is no question of relaxing the law on the protection of sovereignty. On the contrary, we must use all possible means to identify and dismantle the huge liberal funding machine that has imposed a policy against the will of the European people, from war and the migration pact to gender policy,
the Fidesz MEP wrote.
“We will not tolerate the installation of Soros and USAID money traps in Brussels, with the bill being paid by European taxpayers, including Hungarian taxpayers. Threats of lawsuits, withdrawal of funds, or even scathing condemnations, we stand by Hungary’s sovereignty. The security and economic independence of our country should not be negotiable,” concluded Csaba Dömötör in his post.
The European Parliament’s Fidesz-KDNP group also condemned the decision, saying that the sovereignty protection law stands in the way of Brussels because it hinders foreign intervention. Fidesz MEP Ernő Schaller-Baross said: “The result of today’s vote only confirms what we have been witnessing for so long: the EP’s aim is nothing less than to interfere in the democratic processes of a sovereign member state and to exert external influence on Hungarian voters.” He added: “It is unacceptable for the EU authorities to use political blackmail as a tool and to support disinformation campaigns and attempts to influence Hungary.”
Via Népszava, MTI; Featured photo via Pexels