Complaint about the rule of law: Hungary must not complicate submissions to the European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg has repeatedly criticized the rule of law in Hungary.

With a judgment announced on Tuesday, the Luxembourg judges also defended the right of national courts to refer questions to the top EU judges.

A regulation in Hungary, according to which such a submission can lead to disciplinary proceedings, is not compatible with this (Ref .: C-564/19).

The Hungarian regulation provides that the Public Prosecutor's Office can raise objections to a so-called request for a preliminary ruling to the ECJ at the Supreme Court if this is not necessary for the decision on the specific case. If the Supreme Court agrees, it can initiate disciplinary proceedings against the referring judge.

This is exactly what happened to a judge at the Pest District Court in Budapest.

In the main proceedings, he was negotiating a Swedish citizen for violating the weapons law.

Since the Swede does not speak Hungarian, an interpreter was brought in.

The judge complained that there is no state recognition for interpreters in Hungary and that he therefore cannot check whether the Swede and the interpreter understand each other at all.

He asked the ECJ whether this was compatible with EU law and whether the proceedings could possibly be continued without the accused.

A judge defends himself

At the request of the Attorney General, however, the Supreme Court dismissed this submission as unlawful and initiated disciplinary proceedings against the judge.

The latter then followed up and also asked the ECJ about the compatibility of this disciplinary procedure with judicial independence.

The ECJ now emphasized that only it itself can decide on the admissibility of a submission.

The Hungarian regulation is not compatible with this.

The possibility of disciplinary proceedings could also inadmissibly prevent judges from submitting submissions to the ECJ.

That is not compatible with judicial independence.

The Luxembourg judges had already raised a similar complaint in July in connection with disciplinary proceedings against judges in Poland.

Regarding the interpreter's question, the ECJ emphasized the right of every accused to be informed of the allegations made against him in a language he understood.

The EU states are therefore obliged to ensure the quality of the interpreting services.

One way of doing this could be to have a register of certified interpreters.

A continuation of the proceedings without the accused is not compatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The ECJ had already criticized the rule of law in Hungary several times.

In the past week, for example, he rejected regulations as violating fundamental rights, which make aid for asylum seekers difficult or forbidding non-governmental organizations.