FILE -P茅ter Magyar, a rising challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n, addresses people at a campaign rally in the rural city of Debrecen, Hungary, on May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
The EU Parliament rejects Hungary’s bid to lift immunity for its lawmaker and main Orb谩n rival
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) 鈥 A European Parliament committee rejected on Tuesday a bid by the Hungarian prime minister that would lift the legal immunity from prosecution for one of its lawmakers who is Viktor Orb谩n ‘s main political rival.
FILE -P茅ter Magyar, a rising challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n, addresses people at a campaign rally in the rural city of Debrecen, Hungary, on May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) 鈥 A European Parliament committee rejected on Tuesday a bid by the Hungarian prime minister that would lift the legal immunity from prosecution for one of its lawmakers who is Viktor Orb谩n ‘s main political rival.
P茅ter Magyar, who heads , Tisza, represents the most serious challenge to Orb谩n since the right-wing populist leader took power in 2010.
Orb谩n’s government had requested that Magyar’s immunity be lifted so he could face charges for alleged offenses that include theft of a mobile phone in a Budapest nightclub and defamation against a member of Orb谩n’s Fidesz party.
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Once an insider within Orb谩n’s political circle, Magyar broke with Fidesz to launch Tisza. Recent polls suggest it has overtaken Fidesz amid a chronically weak economy and .
Ahead of Hungarian elections next April, Orb谩n has launched a against his rival, leading some analysts and domestic critics to believe he may be laying the groundwork to try and disqualify Magyar from the vote.
Responding to the committee’s decision to uphold Magyar’s immunity, Orb谩n wrote on Facebook Tuesday that it was 鈥淪hameful, disgraceful.鈥
鈥淭oday in Brussels, it was proven that the leader of the opposition is Brussels鈥 man,鈥 Orb谩n said.
In the closed-door vote, the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee also blocked Hungary’s attempt to strip immunity from two other lawmakers, including head of the Hungarian opposition party Democratic Coalition, Kl谩ra Dobrev.
It also upheld the immunity of Italian lawmaker Ilaria Salis, who faced prosecution in Hungary for her alleged role in assaults by antifascist activists on far-right demonstrators in Budapest in 2023.
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Salis was jailed for more than a year in Hungary before , granting her immunity. Hungarian authorities sought Salis’s return to Hungary for trial, where prosecutors sought an 11-year prison sentence.
David Cormand, a French member of the European Parliament with the Greens coalition, told The Associated Press that he had voted to uphold Salis’ immunity.
鈥淭he European Parliament has today sent a clear message: it will not be used as a tool for intimidation by Viktor Orb谩n鈥檚 authoritarian regime,” Cormand said. “By protecting Ilaria Salis, we have protected the integrity of the European Parliament, democracy and the rights of European citizens. This is a victory for the rule of law.鈥
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Associated Press writer Samuel McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.
