August 9, 2026

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The European Post

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August 9, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • Strategic Insight

LATEST
New EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before AntalyaNew EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before Antalya

Parliament renews Article 7 alarm over Hungary before 2026 vote

Renate Rapace
Legislative Analyst, Democratic Governance and Rule of Law

Strasbourg: The European Parliament adopted its second interim report on Hungary’s Article 7 proceedings on 25 November 2025, with 415 votes in favour, 193 against and 28 abstentions. The text condemns what MEPs characterise as the systematic undermining of EU founding values and renews the call for the Council to act under Article 7(2) of the Treaty on European Union — the provision that could suspend Hungary’s voting rights. The vote takes place months before parliamentary elections in Hungary, with significant implications for the country’s relationship with EU institutions and for the operational integrity of the bloc.

The report reviews twelve areas of concern that have been monitored since MEPs triggered the Article 7 procedure in 2018. They include the functioning of the electoral system, judicial independence, corruption, media pluralism, academic freedom, the rights of minorities, and the situation of civil society. The report singles out the practice by Hungary’s supreme court of reviewing Court of Justice judgments before they are applied domestically, a procedural step that has no equivalent elsewhere in the Union. It also documents Hungary’s systematic refusal to implement European Court of Human Rights judgments.

A new concern crystallised in the run-up to the 2026 elections: the use of unlabelled AI-generated political content. MEPs documented the deliberate posting of deepfake videos on social media channels closely linked to the prime minister’s political party, with coordinated amplification across platforms. The report stresses that such material is concerning under the Digital Services Act, the General Data Protection Regulation and the AI Act, and that deliberate deployment of AI-generated content to mislead voters and discredit opponents may also breach Hungarian electoral standards.

Financial conditionality remains the most concrete instrument in the EU toolbox. Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Hungary has until 31 August 2026 to complete 27 rule of law supermilestones, including reforms to judicial independence and anti-corruption frameworks. Failure to comply puts the entire 10.4 billion-euro envelope at risk. As of early 2026, approximately 19 billion euros in cohesion and recovery funding remained suspended, with 1 billion permanently lost. The Commission’s December 2023 decision to release 10.2 billion euros after Hungarian judicial reforms was challenged in February 2026 by the European Parliament before the Court of Justice; the Advocate General has recommended annulling the Commission decision, with a final ruling pending.

The second case file concerns Poland, where the political context shifted in 2024 with the change of government. The Commission withdrew its Article 7 proposal in May 2024 after concluding that Poland had taken sufficient legislative and non-legislative measures to address the rule of law concerns that triggered the procedure in 2017. The reversal demonstrated that the conditionality framework — though slow — can produce convergence when domestic political incentives align. Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed in 2025 a bill enforcing the Digital Services Act domestically, citing concerns that the legislation would give content control to officials linked to the government, illustrating that institutional friction persists even after the Article 7 closure.

The Court of Justice ruling in Case C-271/23 Commission v Hungary on 27 January 2026 reaffirmed the supremacy of EU law in the context of a Member State voting in a manner contrary to a Council Decision on the rescheduling of cannabis. In the same period, the Court issued judgments confirming that Poland’s Constitutional Court did not meet the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law, due to irregularities in the December 2015 appointments of three members. The judgment cements jurisprudence that national constitutional courts cannot refuse to give effect to CJEU decisions on grounds of national constitutional autonomy.

Liberties’ 2026 Rule of Law Report classified Hungary as a Dismantler, with the country reportedly continuing to pursue regressive laws and policies without indications of change. Romania, Malta and Slovakia have entered the Meijers Committee’s Rule of Law Dashboard alongside Hungary and Poland in recent years, reflecting concerns that backsliding pressures are not concentrated in two states alone. The European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report, first published in 2020, has become the principal monitoring instrument, with country-specific recommendations issued to all 27 Member States and not only to those under formal procedures.

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