Hungarian Parliament votes in favour of tightening the rules for MEPs

Under the new rules, Hungarian MEPs will be required to make a declaration of assets and liabilities, and the content and form of the declaration will be determined on the basis of Hungarian parliamentary practice.

It will be introduced within the framework of EU law, but will be much stricter than the current EP rules.

According to the amendment tabled by the governing parties, "the corruption scandals in the European Parliament in recent years have highlighted that the current control and record-keeping mechanisms of the EU institutions do not provide sufficient guarantees to maintain public purity."

The amendment does not change the European Parliament's own system of asset declaration, but it does impose additional national rules for MEPs elected by Hungarian citizens.

The new rules apply to all current and future Hungarian MEPs. The exact date of entry into force and the technical details will be laid down in a future regulation. The move was criticised beforehand by the opposition, which said it was only aimed at the Tisza Party, which has no MPs in the Hungarian Parliament but has several MEPs. While the governing parties argue that Hungarian transparency rules, which are stricter than those in the EU, should also apply to EP politicians.

Cover photo (for illustration purposes only): Getty Images