European Court of Justice rules against Hungary: the Sargentini report is valid!

The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed on Thursday Hungary’s action against a European Parliament resolution triggering an Article 7 procedure.

In September 2018, the EP adopted a resolution to determine, pursuant to Article 7, the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the EU is founded.

Taking the view that, when calculating the votes cast, the EP should have taken account of abstentions, Hungary brought action for the annulment of that resolution.

The CJEU has ruled that MEPs’ abstentions do not have to be counted in order to determine the two-third majority of the votes cast.

The court said the term “votes cast” does not include abstentions which are, by definition, a refusal to cast a vote. Therefore, excluding them from the vote count is in line with democratic principles, and with the principle of equal treatment, “in the light, in particular, of the fact that the MEPs who abstained on the occasion of the vote acted with full knowledge of the facts, since they had been informed in advance that abstentions would not be counted as votes cast,” the court said in a press release.

Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga called the decision “completely unacceptable and shocking” in a Facebook post.

“In our view, the vote was not only contrary to EU Treaties, but also to the European Parliament’s own Rules of Procedure,” Varga said.

Had the EP included abstentions into the votes counted, the two-thirds majority required to adopt the “politically biased” Sargentini report at the root of the Article 7 procedure would not have been reached, Varga said.

“As we all know, abstention means a tacit disagreement … the conscious political will of MEPs … Otherwise, they wouldn’t even go to the polls,” Varga insisted.

“And still, we are the ones who are held accountable for adhering to common values and rules? Come on!” Varga said.

She noted, at the same time, that the ruling has no bearing on the contents of the Sargentini report. “The report’s accusations have been refuted by the Hungarian Government on several occasions, both professionally and in principle,” Varga said.

“As before, in the spirit of loyal co-operation, Hungary is ready for a dialogue on issues related to rule of law. However, we will keep rejecting politically motivated witch hunts,” Varga said.

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