On Wednesday, the Committee on Civil Liberties adopted its second interim report on the Article 7 procedure that Parliament triggered in 2018, by 51 votes in favour, 21 votes against, and two abstentions. The MEPs took stock of their original 12 areas of concern, in light of the lack of progress in the Council.

High time to move from prevention to sanctions

The report stresses that the situation, which threatens the entirety of the Union’s values and its legal order, has continued to deteriorate, noting that the Council’s inaction has contributed to this. Hungary has become a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”, the MEPs say, calling once again for the activation of the procedure under Article 7(2) TEU. They also point to the recent opinion of EU Court of Justice Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta confirming that infringement proceedings can be filed “in cases where the negation of a value is the root cause of other breaches of EU law”, and urge the Commission to seize…