Article 41 - Right to good administration
Key facts of the case:
1) The case originated in two applications (nos. 42461/13 and 44357/13) against Hungary lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 14 June and 5 July 2013 respectively. The first application (no. 42461/13) was lodged by four Hungarian nationals, Mr Gergely Karácsony, Mr Péter Szilágyi, Mr Dávid Dorosz and Ms Rebeka Katalin Szabó, and the second (no. 44357/13) by three Hungarian nationals, Ms Bernadett Szél, Ms Ágnes Osztolykán and Ms Szilvia Lengyel (“the applicants”).
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3) The applicants, members of parliament, alleged that decisions to fine them for their conduct in Parliament had violated their right to freedom of expression in breach of Article 10 of the Convention. They also complained under Article 13 of the Convention that there was no remedy available to them to contest the impugned decisions.
A. The applicants in case no. 42461/13
10) The applicants, Mr Gergely Karácsony, Mr Péter Szilágyi, Mr Dávid Dorosz and Ms Rebeka Katalin Szabó, were born in 1975, 1981, 1985 and 1977 respectively and live in Budapest.
11) At the material time the applicants were members of parliament and of the opposition party Párbeszéd Magyarországért (Dialogue for Hungary). Mr Szilágyi was also one of the notaries to Parliament.
12) At a plenary session on 30 April 2013, during a pre-agenda speech, an opposition member of parliament from the Hungarian Socialist Party criticised the Government and accused it of corruption with regard to, inter alia, the reorganisation of the tobacco market. Mr Zoltán Cséfalvay, the Secretary of State for the National Economy, was replying on behalf of the Government when the applicants Mr Karácsony and Mr Szilágyi carried into the centre of the Chamber a large placard displaying the words “FIDESZ [the party in Government] You steal, you cheat, and you lie.” Subsequently, they placed it next to the Secretary of State’s seat.
14) On 6 May 2013 the Speaker presented a proposal to fine Mr Karácsony 50,000 Hungarian forints ((HUF); equivalent to EUR 170) and Mr Szilágyi HUF 185,520 (EUR 600) for their conduct, as recorded in the minutes and considered to be gravely offensive to parliamentary order, in application of sections 49(4) and 49(7) of the Parliament Act. The Speaker proposed that as regards Mr Szilágyi the maximum fine (a third of his monthly remuneration) be applied, since he had been elected an official of Parliament and was not just an ordinary MP. No other reasons were given in the proposal. A decision approving the Speaker’s proposal was adopted by the plenary on 13 May 2013, without debate.
15) On 21 May 2013 during the final vote on Bill no. T/10881 amending certain tobacco-related Acts the applicants Mr Dorosz and Ms Szabó carried into the centre of the Chamber and displayed there a large banner displaying the words “Here Operates the National Tobacco Mafia”.
17) On 24 May 2013 the Speaker submitted a proposal to fine Mr Dorosz and Ms Szabó HUF 70,000 (EUR 240) each for their conduct, as recorded in the minutes and considered to be gravely offensive to parliamentary order, in application of sections 49(4) and 49(7) of the Parliament Act. The proposal stated that an increased fine was necessary since similar seriously disruptive conduct had occurred before. No other reasons were specified in the proposal. The plenary adopted the proposal on 27 May 2013 without debate.
B. The applicants in case no. 44357/13
18) The applicants, Ms Bernadett Szél, Ms Ágnes Osztolykán and Ms Szilvia Lengyel, were born in 1977, 1974 and 1971 and live in Budakeszi, Budapest and Gödöllő respectively.
19) At the material time the applicants were members of parliament and of the opposition party LMP (Politics Can Be Different).
20) On 21 June 2013 Parliament held a final vote on a new law, Bill no. T/7979 on the Transfer of Agricultural and Forestry Land. The legislative proposal was quite controversial and generated heated reactions among opposition members. In protest during the final vote on the bill, Ms Lengyel placed a small, golden wheelbarrow filled with soil on the table in front of the Prime Minister, while Ms Szél and Ms Osztolykán unfurled a banner displaying the words “Land distribution instead of land robbery!” in front of the Speaker’s pulpit; meanwhile, Ms Lengyel used a megaphone to speak. She had previously delivered two speeches during the detailed debate and one speech during the final debate on the bill, filing three amending motions, and introduced two amending proposals just before the final vote.
22) On 25 June 2013 the Speaker presented a proposal to fine Ms Szél and Ms Lengyel HUF 131,400 (EUR 430) each and Ms Osztolykán HUF 154,000 (EUR 510) for their conduct, as recorded in the minutes and considered to be gravely offensive to parliamentary order, in application of sections 49(4) and 49(7) of the Parliament Act.
23) The Speaker proposed that the maximum fine be applied, given the extraordinary situation that had developed during the voting process and that the MPs had engaged in conduct gravely offensive to parliamentary order by displaying their banner and using a megaphone. A decision approving the proposal of the Speaker was adopted by the plenary on 26 June 2013, without debate.
Outcome of the case:
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
156) In the present case only ex post facto disciplinary sanctions are in issue. The Court reiterates that the rule of law, one of the fundamental principles of a democratic society, is inherent in all the Articles of the Convention (see Golder v. the United Kingdom, 21 February 1975, § 34, Series A no. 18; Amuur v. France, 25 June 1996, § 50, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996‑III; and Iatridis v. Greece [GC], no. 31107/96, § 58, ECHR 1999‑II). The rule of law implies, inter alia, that there must be a measure of legal protection in domestic law against arbitrary interferences by public authorities with the rights safeguarded by the Convention (see, among other authorities, Klass and Others v. Germany, 6 September 1978, § 55, Series A no. 28, and Malone v. the United Kingdom, 2 August 1984, § 67, Series A no. 82). With regard to ex post facto disciplinary sanctions, the Court considers that the procedural safeguards available to this effect should include, as a minimum, the right for the MP concerned to be heard in a parliamentary procedure before a sanction is imposed. It notes that the right to be heard would indeed increasingly appear as a basic procedural rule in democratic States, over and beyond judicial procedures, as demonstrated, inter alia, by Article 41 § 2 (a) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (see paragraphs 54‑55 above).
