Uploading as political strategy: the European Parliament and the Hungarian media law debate

Batory, Agnes

doi:10.1080/21599165.2013.838560

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…Although Barroso and Reding openly criticised Orbán, the Commission dealt with the problems related to the 2010 media law as a matter of ordinary infringement related to the transposition of a media-related directive, not a rule-of-law matter, and a crisis was averted when the Hungarian government backed down. It took a similar approach to the above-mentioned case of judges' early retirement, thus permitting Fidesz to develop a strategy of 'creative compliance' (Batory 2014(Batory , 2016a. At the same time, the political pressure continued, and was captured elegantly in Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's greeting the Hungarian Prime Minister with a jovial "Hello, Dictator" at the 2015 Riga Summit.…”

Section: Democratic Backsliding and Eu Crisis Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratic Backsliding in the European Union

Sitter¹,

Bakke²

2019

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics

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Democratic backsliding in European Union (EU) member states is not only a policy challenge for the EU, but also a potential existential crisis. If the EU does too little to deal with member state regimes that go back on their commitments to democracy and the rule of law, this risks undermining the EU from within. On the other hand, if the EU takes drastic action, this might split the EU. This article explores the nature and dynamics of democratic backsliding in EU member states, and analyses the EU’s capacity, policy tools and political will to address the challenge. Empirically it draws on the cases that have promoted serious criticism from the Commission and the European Parliament: Hungary, Poland, and to a lesser extent, Romania. After reviewing the literature and defining backsliding as a gradual, deliberate, but open-ended process of de-democratization, the article analyzes the dynamics of backsliding and the EU’s difficulties in dealing with this challenge to liberal democracy and the rule of law. The Hungarian and Polish populist right’s “illiberal” projects involve centralization of power in the hands of the executive and the party, and limiting the independence of the judiciary, the media and civil society. This has brought both governments into direct confrontation with the European Commission. However, the EU’s track record in managing backsliding crises is at best mixed. This comes down to a combination of limited tools and lack of political will. Ordinary infringement procedures offer a limited toolbox, and the Commission has proven reluctant to use even these tools fully. At the same time, party groups in the European Parliament and many member state governments have been reluctant to criticize one of their own, let alone go down the path of suspending aspect of a states’ EU membership. Hence the EU’s dilemma: it is caught between undermining its own values and cohesion through inaction on one hand, and relegating one or more member states it to a second tier—or even pushing them out altogether—on the other.

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Section: Democratic Backsliding and Eu Crisis Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratic Backsliding in the European Union

Sitter¹,

Bakke²

2019

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics

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“…This is also surprising because notable EU influences are present in various public policies that represent the main, although mostly quiet, battleground between the EU and Hungary. Only those public policies enter into the spotlight that become heavily politicized and contested in Hungary's EU relations, such as the media law (Batory, 2014), migration policy (Bíró-Nagy, 2021), and judiciary policy (Kovács & Scheppele, 2018). A systematic look at the evolution of the impact of the EU on policy-making in Hungary has been missing in the academic literature.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework: Europeanization Of Hungarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Europeanization of Public Policy in Hungary: An Empirical Resear

Bíró-Nagy¹,

Laki²

2022

CJPS

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Empirical research about the European Union’s impact on domestic public policy has been largely missing from academic research about Hungary. By presenting the results of analysis of three new databases, the aim of this study is to investigate the impact of the EU on Hungarian public policy between 2004 and 2018. The three aspects covered in this article are the Europeanization of law-making in the Hungarian parliament, the implementation of country-specific recommendations issued by the European Commission, and the similarities and differences between different governments in terms of handling infringement procedures. Our results show that the interaction between the Hungarian government (and in general, V4 governments) and the EU is much less conflictual at the policy level than what some high-profile political conflicts might suggest.

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“…This allowed the Hungarian government to introduce a number of corrections that formally brought the legislation into line with Commission requirements yet left government control of the media regulator (chiefly through appointments already made) intact. At this point, the Commission went along with this, foregoing possible infringement procedures, which may well have been connected with the fact that Hungary held the rotating presidency of the Council in the first half of 2011 – making it difficult for the Commission to balance its role as guardian of the Treaties with its political role, especially as initiator of legislation, which requires a good working relationship with the member state managing the Council's agenda (Batory ).…”

Section: Rule Of Law Crises In the Eumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In April 2011 the new Hungarian basic law was adopted – replacing the old constitution without support from a single opposition MP in parliament and without confirmation through a referendum. The basic law was severely criticized by a number of forums including the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, and was subject to heated debate in the European Parliament on the occasion of the conclusion of the Hungarian presidency, where, however, Fidesz continued to enjoy the support of its transnational party, the European People's Party (Batory ). Finally, following the adoption of so‐called cardinal laws implementing the basic law in December, in many respects disregarding the Commission's criticisms raised at draft law stage, the body also stepped up action against the Hungarian government.…”

Section: Rule Of Law Crises In the Eumentioning

confidence: 99%

Defying the Commission: Creative Compliance and Respect for the Rule of Law in the Eu

Batory¹

2016

Public Administration

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This article investigates how and to what extent member states comply with EU obligations in terms of process and outcome. The aim is to demonstrate how norm-conform behaviour unfolds, or fails to unfold, in an interaction between a member state and the European Commission. The empirical focus is on recent rule of law crises in France, Hungary and Romania. The argument is that member states engage in symbolic and/or creative compliance, designed to create the appearance of norm-conform behaviour without giving up their original objectives. The cases illustrate that creative and symbolic compliance strategies may be successfully employed by member states because they enable the Commission to disengage from conflicts it judges too costly and yet maintain its credibility, and are conditioned by the visibility of failure to change facts on the ground. The implication is that, at times, not only is compliance symbolic, but also to some extent is enforcement.

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Uploading as political strategy: the European Parliament and the Hungarian media law debate

Cited by 8 publications

References 40 publications

Democratic Backsliding in the European Union

Democratic Backsliding in the European Union

Europeanization of Public Policy in Hungary: An Empirical Resear

Defying the Commission: Creative Compliance and Respect for the Rule of Law in the Eu

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