EC publishes another damning rule of law report on Hungary

Hungary continues to face systemic problems in the independence of the judiciary, the fight against corruption, media pluralism, legislative transparency and the functioning of civil society, according to the European Commission's Rule of Law 2025 report, published on Tuesday. The document denounces the lack of progress in several areas for the umpteenth year, although these criticisms have already been voiced against Hungary under the conditionality procedure, which still leaves the government without access to a significant share of EU funds.

The 2023 reforms on the independence of the judiciary were partially implemented by the National Judicial Council (NJC or OBT in Hungarian), but the the OBT was bypassed several times in the preparation of the new legislation.

In particular, the OBT has strongly criticised the fact that the new conditions for judicial appointments were introduced without prior consultation, which has a negative impact on the career of judges and the internal judicial training system.

The Commission concluded in its report that the functioning of the complaints panel, which ensures the uniformity of jurisprudence in the case of the Curia, has proved to be adequate: in 2024, it issued 17 uniformity decisions and 40 uniformity complaint decisions. However, the document stresses that the transparency of the rules on the allocation of cases in the lower courts still does not meet EU standards. Pressure has been exerted in internal disputes over judicial independence:

the Brussels body recalls that one presiding judge was unlawfully relieved from his duties by the president of the Curia for publicly criticising the reforms - a ruling that was upheld by the court.

The European Commission highlights the adoption in 2024 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which removed the requirement for the Prosecutor General to be selected from among prosecutors. Following the entry into force of this constitutional amendment and related legislative changes, beside the mandatory three-year legal traineeship needed to pass the bar exam and the further requirement of having one year of professional experience, no further professional expertise will be required to be elected as the Prosecutor General. This raises serious concerns about the de-politicisation of the position. The Venice Commission has proposed stricter criteria, coupled with adequate safeguards in the appointment process, but the Hungarian government has ignored this, according to the report.

On 11 June 2025, the National Assembly elected a candidate from within the prosecution service to serve as new Prosecutor General, for a period of nine years.

Hungary has not implemented GRECO’s recommendation

to review the possibility to keep the incumbent Prosecutor General in office after the expiry of their mandate by a parliamentary minority blocking the election of a successor.

The four-party agreement signed on 22 November 2024 envisages salary increases for judges and judicial staffs in three steps, which, as regards judges, would lead to the average salary for these categories being increased by 48% by 2027. In December 2024, the National Assembly adopted the 2025 annual central budget raising the salary base for judges by 15%, and the 2026 annual central budget, adopted in June 2025, raised the salary base for judges by further 10%.

However, the measures do not introduce structural solutions, such as an automatic indexation of the salary base for judges, as is the case for salaries of a number of key public officials.

In contrast... the salaries of several categories of key public officials – including members of Parliament, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the top management of the Hungarian National Bank, the State Audit Office, the Competition Authority, the Public Procurement Authority, the National Atomic Energy Authority, the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority, the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, the Supervisory Authority for Regulatory Affairs, the Integrity Authority and the Sovereignty Protection Office – are calculated on the basis of the previous year’s gross average salary in the national economy, published by the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

Gaps in the fight against corruption

In 2024, 264 persons were convicted at final instance for corruption crimes, compared to 364 in the previous year. This is a decrease of 27%. There is still a lack of convincing convictions in high-level corruption cases, and in many cases decision-making is slow. In a footnote, they note that a high-profile case against a former parliamentary state secretary and the chief bailiff (the Schadl-Völner case - ed.) was launched in 2023 but is still ongoing.

According to the European Commission, the Integrity Authority reported nine cases to the Public Prosecutor's Office in 2024.

The Authority reported not having access to banking, tax and insurance records which is key for investigations. This includes the central register on beneficial ownership managed by the Tax and Customs Administration, Obstacles related to access to data, are also reported in the Integrity Authority’s 2024 annual report to the Hungarian Parliament.

Whereas a government decree is expected to give the Integrity Authority a right of direct access to a number of state databases, and the Government indicated that the current legal framework provides all necessary access rights, the Integrity Authority again reported obstacles related to access.

The possibility of a so-called “motion for revision procedure” - whereby a court can decide to review a prosecutor's refusal - has been extended, but the decision is not binding. They note that the government has still not complied with the 2024 recommendation to improve the investigation and prosecution of high-level corruption cases.

The possibility of ‘motion for revision’, which allows for the review of the decision by the prosecution service not to prosecute a case or the decision of the investigative authority not to investigate, was introduced in the Criminal Procedure Code by Act XLIV of 2022 to address the concerns raised in the past as regards the accountability of the prosecution service.

According to the Commission, the asset declaration system remains incomplete: it does not cover, for example, private equity funds, trusts or non-taxable income. (A recent amendment to the anti-money laundering legislation, aiming to increase transparency of ultimate beneficial owners of previously established private equity funds, will not enter into force until July 2026.)

This is also one of the key points of the conditionality procedure.

In 2024, no procedure against a member of Parliament was initiated, and six members of Parliament rectified their asset declarations after errors were revealed by the public. No formal proceedings were launched against any of them.

The government has not responded to the Integrity Authority's special report, although it has made several recommendations, including the creation of a dedicated electronic platform for submission of asset declarations, introduction of an adequate sanctions regime, streamlining the verification process and automatic comparison of asset declarations with external databases.

No solution for lobbyists, the Sovereignty Protection Office also remains a concern

The Government plans to adopt legislation on lobbying, including rules on revolving doors, by 30 November 2025. Its exact elements are yet to be decided. Pending its adoption, no steps have been taken to establish rules on contacts between members of Parliament and lobbyists. Preparations are still ongoing for a nonbinding code of conduct for members of Parliament, including guidelines on lobbying and post-employment. No steps have been taken to prepare the code of conduct for persons in top executive functions, planned by 30 April 2024. GRECO has repeatedly called for this to be addressed.

It is mentioned in the report that the Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO) has investigated several NGOs, including two that are members of the Anti-Corruption Task Force.

The Commission also pointed out that the authorities continue to selectively deny independent journalists the opportunity to report on events of public interest. "Pressure on journalists and other media professionals has increased, as they continue to encounter numerous and serious challenges to their work," the EC said. Stakeholders drew attention to the prevalence of smear campaigns and derogatory statements against journalists.

"With the investigative activities carried out by the Sovereignty Protection Office into alleged ‘foreign funding’, pressure on independent journalists and media outlets has increased.

The Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists registered five new alerts relating to, respectively, an investigative outlet accused on engaging in foreign influence and espionage by the Sovereignty Protection Office; two journalists seeking to interview the PM who were obstructed, detained and charged; alerts relating to the Act on Transparency in the Public Sphere and a report claiming that intelligence reports had been drawn up on media outlets and CSOs.

The Mapping Media Freedom monitoring report has flagged thirty-seven alerts, eight of which concern derogatory statements and smear campaigns targeting journalists; seven of which relate to refusal of accreditation, information or access to political events and six of which are linked to the operation of the Sovereignty Protection Office.

No measures have been adopted or are planned to regulate the channelling of state advertising to media outlets, to guarantee the functional independence of the media authority and to ensure the editorial and financial independence of public service media,

the report adds.

Concerns about the government's emergency powers:

The EC noted that the Hungarian government "continues to use its emergency powers extensively, undermining legal certainty and affecting the operation of businesses in the single market."

• The law-making process remains a serious source of concern, with certain important legislative processes not being linked to public consultation requirements.
• Foreign companies, including from other EU Member States, operating in strategic sectors face intensified regulatory pressure from state action.
• The possibility for the Government to interfere with the application of merger control rules continues to create legal uncertainty.

The single bid rate for public procurement in 2024 was 23%, well above the government's target of 15%. Corruption risks remain higher for nationally funded projects than for EU-funded ones, the report says. The share of framework agreements with a single bidder has been rising steadily since 2019, reaching around 70% in 2023 and 2024, creating monopolies in certain sectors such as IT and communications, the Commission said.

The EU executive also noted that no steps were taken in the reporting period to address long-standing recommendations to strengthen the transparency of political party and campaign financing. "[...] the applicable legislation does not require the disclosure of campaign donations, nor does it prohibit the use of state resources for campaigning during a pre-election period.

The possibility for circumvention of campaign spending limits via the use of third-parties and intermediaries, as reported during the 2022 elections, also remains unaddressed. In February 2024, the State Audit Office had imposed fines on six opposition political parties for alleged illegal foreign funding during the 2022 election campaign.

On 17 June 2025, in expedited procedure, the National Assembly passed a law that removes the cap on political campaign expenses.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has recommended to states to prevent excessive funding needs of political parties, such as establishing limits on expenditure on electoral campaigns.

According to the Commission's summary, Hungary has made no progress at all on several of the 2024 recommendations, in particular on judicial independence, media pluralism, civic society freedom and the fight against high-level corruption. The few positive developments - such as wage increases and some achievements in the digitalisation of the judiciary - do not offset the persistence of systemic problems. The report suggests that the full release of frozen EU funds is not expected in the foreseeable future.

Cover photo (for illustration purposes only): Getty Images