Viktor Orban is suing the EU, unhappy with the EMFA regulation

Dissatisfied with the protection granted to journalists by the European Press Freedom Act (EMFA), the Hungarian government, led by Viktor Orban, asked the Court of Justice of the European Union to find that the European Parliament and the Council of the EU exceeded their powers by adopting this regulation that must applied in the 27 states starting from August 2025, Politico.eu announces.

Hungary requests the CJEU, in the case registered on July 10, 2024, to cancel the new regulation aimed at guaranteeing press freedom, given that the country in question ranks 85th in the Press Freedom Index carried out by the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), after 10 years ago it was in 40th place. The current place is caused according to RSF by the "deterioration of press freedom" due to the "systematic deterioration of the rule of law and the transition to authoritarianism led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban". A spokesman for Hungary's Ministry of European Affairs said the lawsuit challenges the legal basis of the regulation because it "covers several areas where the Union has no legislative powers" and stretches the limits of how far EU law should go to to harmonize the internal market. "If this trend were to continue, it would disrupt the balance of powers established in the EU Treaties and significantly increase the Union's powers at the expense of member states," said the spokesman, who declined to be named, according to the source cited.

According to the Legal Service of the Council of the EU, the legal basis of the proposal is Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which allows the EU to adopt measures related to the internal market. We note that the legal basis was also a point of concern for Germany, where regional governments wanted to protect their legislative jurisdiction over media policy and have more flexibility in how they governed public broadcasting.

We remind you that Hungary was among the countries mentioned by the former European deputy, Ramona Strugariu, who allegedly threatened an action at the CJEU as early as 9 months ago. Ramona Strugariu, who was rapporteur for the European Act for Freedom of the Press, declared in October 2023 after a meeting in Strasbourg with media representatives: "We received information from sources that we will be sued by some member states - which have not wanted such a legislative proposal from the beginning - and the legal basis of the position adopted by the European Parliament will be challenged. I've been through this before, I've heard it before, there have been such attempts before. Let's see if it will happen or not. The respective states are now looking for reasons, all kinds of gimmicks, legal formulations, especially since the act has provisions that refer to the common market, so that they can go to the Court of Justice of the European Union. From our sources, we understood that it would be France and Germany, but there were several states interested, such as Poland, which will now have a pro-European government, and Hungary. I learned that the subject of an approach that some member states would make to the CJEU, mainly to challenge the legal basis, is coming up".

The European Press Freedom Act aims to protect newsrooms from political interference, protect reporters from spyware, reduce media concentration and empower news outlets against arbitrary content removal by online platforms. Hungary was a veiled target of the media law when it was drafted: the ruling Fidesz party took de facto control of 80% of the country's media.

The European Press Freedom Act, initiated by the European Commission in 2022, became an official EU regulation after the political agreement that was concluded with the EU Council was approved by the European Parliament with 464 votes in favor, 92 against and 65 abstentions.