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 Orbán ‘s main political rival.
Péter Magyar, who heads Hungary’s largest opposition party, Tisza, represents the most serious challenge to Orbán since the right-wing populist leader took power in 2010.
Orbán’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 Orbán’s Fidesz party.
Once an insider within Orbán’s political circle, Magyar broke with Fidesz to launch Tisza. Recent polls suggest it has overtaken Fidesz amid a chronically weak economy and persistent inflation.
Ahead of Hungarian elections next April, Orbán has launched a full-scale communication barrage 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.
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, Klára 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.
Posted by John3262005