The Hungarian government has announced that it will not respond to the European Commission's unrealistic deadline in relation to the infringement proceedings concerning the transparency of civil organizations.
According to Kormany.hu, instead of the usual two-month deadline, the Commission has once again given Hungary only one month to draw up an official response, which according to the Commission’s request should therefore be provided by November 5th, 2017.
Government sources state that this is the seventh time in five months that the Commission has set out a deadline of one month or less, of four or two weeks, and it is not acceptable.
Hungary's responses have had to be delivered in an unreasonably short deadline in the case of three particularly important infringement procedures: mandatory resettlement quota, the transparency of civil organizations and the amendment of the Act on Higher Education.
Taking into account the principle of loyal cooperation and in the hope of the success of constructive dialogue, Hungary has so far spared no resources to ensure that it keeps to these extremely short deadlines for providing responses on every occasion. In each case it has requested an extension of the deadline from the Commission, which in every case the Commission has summarily rejected without providing tangible justification.
According to the Hungarian government's standpoint this represents the arbitrary application of pressure, which clearly violates Hungary’s right to fair procedure and defence.
In view of the above, the Hungarian government has decided to provide its official response to the Commission’s opinion and justifications within the two-month deadline that corresponds to decades of practice, i.e. by December 5th, 2017, which scheduling provides enough time to prepare and finalize Hungary’s letter of reply according to the usual order of procedure. Hungary is committed to continuing dialogue, but expects its right to defence not to be impaired.