5.4.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 125/471 Thursday 15 September 2022
AV. whereas in its technical review of the report on the state of conservation for the Hungarian component of the transboundary World Heritage property ‘Fertö/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape’ compiled in May 2021, the UNESCO International Council on Monuments and Sites concluded that the Sopron Fertö Lake Resort project, in its presented size and form, would harm the authenticity and integrity of the transboundary World Heritage property;
AW. whereas Hungary ranks 73rd out of the 180 countries and territories covered by Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perception Index (down by one place compared to the previous year), and its ranking has been constantly declining since 2012;
Privacy and data protection
AX. whereas in the mission report following the ad hoc delegation of its Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs to Budapest from 29 September to 1 October 2021, concerns were raised about the lack of safeguards as regards surveillance in the current legislation, with no real checks and balances and remedies; whereas concerns were also raised on the alleged use of the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware and increased surveillance by the state against activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians;
AY. whereas in July 2021, with information obtained through a leaked database, the investigative portal Direkt36 revealed that around 300 Hungarian citizens, including independent journalists, media owners, lawyers, politicians, business people critical of the government and former state officials, were targeted by the Pegasus spyware without their knowledge between 2018 and 2021; whereas in its preliminary remarks on modern spyware published on 15 February 2022, the European Data Protection Supervisor concluded that the widespread use of highly advanced spyware like Pegasus has the potential to cause unprecedented risks and damages not only to fundamental rights and freedoms, but also to democracy and the rule of law, outlined a series of steps and measures as a guarantee against the unlawful use of spyware, and stated that a ban on the development and deployment of spyware with the capacity of Pegasus in the EU would be the most effective option to protect fundamental rights and freedoms; whereas pro-government media in Hungary have hardly ever reported on Pegasus;
AZ. whereas in its decision of 9 March 2022 concerning the pending enhanced supervision of the execution of the ECtHR judgment in Szabó and Vissy v Hungary, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recalled that the case in question concerned the violation of the applicants’ right to respect for their private and family life and for their correspondence on account of the Hungarian legislation on national security-related measures of secret surveillance, which lacked sufficiently precise, effective and comprehensive safeguards on the ordering, execution and potential redressing of those measures; whereas the Committee of Ministers further highlighted that secret surveillance should be regarded as a highly intrusive act that potentially interferes with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and threatens the foundations of a democratic society, while recalling that in response to the ECtHR judgment the authorities announced in 2017 the need for a legislative reform; whereas the Committee of Ministers noted with serious concern that the legislative process was still at a preliminary stage and the authorities had not presented any other relevant developments, and therefore strongly called on the authorities to urgently adopt the measures required to bring the domestic legislation fully in line with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights, establish a timeline for the legislative process and present a draft legislative proposal to the committee;
Freedom of expression, including media pluralism
BA. whereas on 13 July 2022, the Commission indicated in the country chapter on Hungary of the 2022 Rule of Law Report that the functional independence and effectiveness of the Media Authority needs to be strengthened, and that the continued channelling of significant amounts of state advertising to pro-government media creates an unlevel playing field in the media landscape; whereas public service media operates in a complex institutional system, amid concerns over its editorial and financial independence, and media professionals continue to face challenges in exercising their activities, including the surveillance of investigative journalists; whereas access to public information continues to be hindered under a state of danger;