EU Debates Suspending Hungary’s Voting Rights

The General Affairs Council of the EU will meet on May 27 to discuss the possibility of applying Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union to Hungary, which would allow the EU to suspend a member country’s voting rights.

Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union allows for the possibility of suspending EU membership rights if a country seriously and persistently breaches the principles of the EU, such as those of human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law.

At the upcoming meeting of the European Council of General Affairs on May 27, “Ministers will hold the eighth hearing on Hungary under the Article 7 procedure, triggered by a reasoned proposal from the European Parliament in September 2018,” reported European Pravda today.

Hungarian President Victor Orban has had a fraught relationship with Brussels and Kyiv as one of the few European leaders who has maintained relations with Moscow following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022.  

Orban has consistently vetoed EU funding for Ukraine and attempted to block the country’s accession negotiations into the union.  

Tensions recently flared between Kyiv and Budapest when Ukraine reportedly dismantled a Hungarian spy ring earlier this month and Hungary expelled its Ukrainian diplomats.

Hungary has criticized Ukraine for a 2017 language law limiting education in minority languages, including Hungarian. Ukraine has a Hungarian minority estimated at 100,000, mostly in the west near the countries’ shared border.

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Hungary was previously threatened with Article 7 sanctions in 2023, but evaded penalties because it had the support of Poland.

Poland also faced the prospect of sanctions under Article 7 in 2017 for violating EU principles and judicial independence, but these procedures were suspended after the pro-European Donald Tusk won the presidency and prioritized repairing relations with Brussels, according to European Pravda.  

Hungary is currently the only EU member state facing potential Article 7 sanctions.