EU Calls Hungary’s Challenge of Top Court Ruling ‘Unacceptable’

(Bloomberg) -- The Hungarian government’s decision to ask the Constitutional Court to review a European Union top court ruling related to migration was “unacceptable” because it questioned the primacy of EU law, Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said.

The issue was one of several problematic areas that came up during a visit to Budapest, which confirmed the erosion of the rule of law under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Reynders told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday. The European Commission also wants Hungary to change a legislation the government calls a “child protection law,” because it discriminates based on sexual orientation, Reynders said.

The European Commmission may send out within days letters to Budapest and Warsaw asking the governments to clarify EU funding expenditures, confirming Bloomberg’s reporting on Thursday. The letters are a first step in the so-called conditionality mechanism, a new process which could see billions of euros withheld from member states accused of rule-of-law violations, according to officials familiar who asked not to be identified.

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