Request for the waiver of the immunity of Péter Magyar

Committee on Legal Affairs

European Parliament decision of 7 October 2025 on the request for waiver of the immunity of Péter Magyar (2025/2096(IMM))

The European Parliament,

–having regard to the request for the waiver of the immunity of Péter Magyar, dated 21 March 2025, submitted by the Central District Court of Pest in Hungary in connection with criminal proceedings brought against him by way of a private motion, and announced in Parliament on 5 May 2025,

–having regard to the fact that Péter Magyar renounced his right to be heard in accordance with Rule 9(6) of its Rules of Procedure,

–having regard to Articles 8 and 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, and Article 6(2) of the Act of 20 September 1976 concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage,

–having regard to Article 4(2) of the Fundamental Law of Hungary,

–having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 21 October 2008, 19 March 2010, 6 September 2011, 17 January 2013, 19 December 2019 and 5 July 2023,

–having regard to Rule 5(2), Rule 6(1) and Rule 9 of its Rules of Procedure,

–having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs (A10-0182/2025),

A.whereas, on 21 March 2025, the Central District Court of Pest submitted a request for the waiver of the immunity of Péter Magyar, a Member of the European Parliament elected in Hungary, in connection with an alleged offence under Section 226 of Act No C of 2012 on the Hungarian Criminal Code, for events that occurred in April 2024 in a criminal case for defamation brought against him by a private prosecuting party;

B.whereas the waiver request indicates that Péter Magyar is accused of having made public statements containing false accusations during a demonstration and of having spread rumours likely to harm the reputation of the political movement ‘Mi Hazánk Mozgalom’ (Our Homeland Movement) and one of its vice-presidents, a member of the Hungarian Parliament; whereas private prosecution proceedings, based on a criminal complaint for defamation, were brought against Péter Magyar on 13 May 2024;

C.whereas Péter Magyar was elected in the European elections in June 2024 and was campaigning to be elected as a Member of the European Parliament at the time the criminal complaint was made against him;

D.whereas the alleged offence does not constitute, and the subsequent request for waiver of the immunity is not related to, an opinion expressed or a vote cast by Péter Magyar in the performance of his duties within the meaning of Article 8 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union;

E.whereas Article 9, first paragraph, point (a), of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union states that Members of the European Parliament enjoy, in the territory of their own state, the immunities accorded to members of their parliament;

F.whereas Article 4(2) of the Fundamental Law of Hungary provides that Members of the Hungarian Parliament enjoy parliamentary immunity; whereas, pursuant to Section 79(2) of Act No XXXVI of 2012 on the National Assembly, a person registered with final and binding effect as candidate shall enjoy the same immunity as members until the result of the election becomes final and binding, and whereas, in any case, pursuant to Section 79(1) thereof, members shall enjoy immunity from the day of their election; whereas, pursuant to Article 74(1) of Act No XXXVI of 2012 on the National Assembly, criminal proceedings or, in the event of immunity not being waived voluntarily in respect of the matter in question, infraction proceedings may be initiated or pursued and coercive measures under criminal procedure applied against a member only with the prior consent of the National Assembly;

G.whereas, in accordance with Rule 5(2) of the Rules of Procedure, parliamentary immunity is not a Member’s personal privilege but a guarantee of the independence of the European Parliament as a whole and of its Members;

H.whereas the purpose of the immunity provided for in Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union is to protect Parliament and its Members from legal proceedings in relation to activities that are carried out in the performance of parliamentary duties and which cannot be separated from those

I.whereas it follows from case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union that Parliament has a ‘broad discretion when deciding whether to grant or to refuse a request for waiver of immunity (...), owing to the political nature of such a decision’;

J.whereas Péter Magyar is the president of the TISZA Party (Tisztelet és Szabadság Párt) and was also head of that party’s list of candidates for the 2024 European elections; whereas Mi Hazánk Mozgalom also participated in the 2024 European elections and can therefore be considered a direct political rival of Péter Magyar; whereas political rivals are normally subject to greater criticism and controversy in political debate than citizens who are not politically active; whereas it appears that under Hungarian law defamation claims can be pursued both on the basis of criminal law and on the basis of civil law, with significant differences in the corresponding legal consequences, including imprisonment; whereas, in the present case, the choice of bringing a criminal action raises doubts as to its purpose which may go beyond the legitimate aim of redressing the alleged harm suffered and suggests that the aim pursued goes beyond that legitimate aim and is in fact intended to harm Péter Magyar’s reputation as a Member of the European Parliament;

K. whereas the above considerations raise serious fears as to whether there was an intention to harm Péter Magyar’s political activity, and in particular his activity as a Member of the European Parliament;

L. whereas it would therefore appear that, in this instance, fumus persecutionis can be assumed, i.e. there is ‘concrete evidence’ that the intention underlying the legal proceedings in question was to undermine the political activity of Péter Magyar, by means of a request for waiver of immunity, at a time when he was standing as a candidate in the 2024 European elections as head of list of his political party;

M.whereas Parliament cannot assume the role of a court, and whereas, in a waiver of immunity procedure, a Member cannot be regarded as a defendant;

1.Decides not to waive the immunity of Péter Magyar;

2.Instructs its President to forward this decision and the report of its committee responsible immediately to the competent Hungarian authority and to Péter Magyar.