AARHUS, Denmark — Denmark wants Europe to deploy its full legal arsenal against Hungary over violations of the bloc’s fundamental rights, including by pursuing the Article 7 so-called nuclear option against Budapest.
“We are still seeing a violation on fundamental values,” Danish European Affairs Minister Marie Bjerre told reporters in Aarhus, where the European Commission is on a visit as Copenhagen takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. “That is why we will continue the Article 7 procedure and the hearing on Hungary.”
Article 7 is a clause in the EU treaty that allows countries to vote to exclude or penalize a member that falls afoul of the bloc’s rules. It’s widely considered to be a nuclear legal option, which the EU has so far stopped short of using despite Brussels saying that Hungary has violated its laws.
Bjerre said the bloc should also look into restricting access to EU funds for countries that violate European law.
Another major issue for Denmark: EU enlargement. The minister called out Hungary’s ongoing blockade of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, saying Denmark was “willing to look at all political and practical solutions for us to move forward.”
If EU countries decide to escalate their ongoing Article 7 procedure, they could strip Hungary of its voting rights on aspects of European policy such as enlargement, removing Budapest’s ability to veto Ukraine’s membership. However, diplomats caution that moving ahead requires at least full-throated support from Paris and Berlin to rally the rest of the bloc — support that so far has been lacking.
With Hungary still dead set against Ukraine’s membership, there is speculation that the European Commission could decide to move ahead with Moldova’s membership bid by formally opening a negotiation “cluster” in the coming days. Moldova and Ukraine have been moving in lockstep toward EU membership, so uncoupling them would be controversial.
But Bjerre said Denmark isn’t ready to split the two membership bids: “It is still our goal to open cluster one together with Moldova and Ukraine,” she said.
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