Hungary's parliament approves withdrawal from the International Criminal Court

The Hungarian Parliament approved on Tuesday the proposal to withdraw the country from the International Criminal Court (ICC), with 134 votes in favor, 37 against and 7 abstentions.

The initiative was presented by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen. According to the government's reasoning, the ICC has become a political actor.

The 24.hu portal reported in July last year that following the request of the ICC Prosecutor General to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over military actions in Gaza, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had tasked three ministers in his cabinet with considering the consequences of a possible withdrawal from the Court – as the only European Union country to take such a step.

According to the Hungarian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Orbán's government interpreted as a positive signal the statement of former US President Donald Trump on February 5, when the latter warned of sanctions against the ICC following the arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

After issuing the warrant against Netanyahu, Orban accused the ICC of "intervening for political purposes in an evolving conflict," and said the decision undermines international law.

He declared that he would challenge the order and invite Netanyahu to visit Hungary, guaranteeing that he would not be arrested.

According to the Hungarian Government, this was possible because the Hungarian Parliament had never ratified the ICC statute, therefore it had no legal force in Hungary and no arrests could be made on its basis.

On February 25, Minister Gergely Gulyas said that the Government was seriously considering withdrawing from the ICC, which had also had a Hungarian judge on its staff until the end of its mandate last year.

He said that the Court, which was once a respectable initiative, had now “turned into a political actor.”

On April 1, the Minister of Justice, Bence Tuzson, presented the outline of the withdrawal process at a meeting of ambassadors, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Two days later, Gulyas publicly announced on social media that the decision to withdraw had been made.

This decision was confirmed on May 7, with the final vote of Parliament./REL