After revocation of broadcasting license
ECJ condemns Hungary for violating freedom of expression
Updated on February 26, 2026 – 10:27 amReading time: 2 minutes
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is taking action against critical voices. Now the European Union has achieved success in the fight for freedom of expression.
After revoking the broadcasting license of an independent radio station, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has convicted Hungary of violating freedom of expression. The court announced this on Thursday in Luxembourg. The EU Commission had sued. The case concerns the station Klubradio, the most important independent radio station in Hungary.
Klubradio had to discontinue its radio program in 2021 and has since then only been heard on the internet. A contract between the broadcaster and the Hungarian Media Council, which has been running since 2014, was not renewed at the time. The media council justified this by saying that Klubradio had twice violated its obligation to transmit broadcast quotas on a monthly basis. The broadcasting frequency was subsequently re-tendered, but Klubradio’s application for it was declared invalid.
According to the ECJ, Hungary violated the freedom of expression and information enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The violations that the club radio was accused of and that led to the license being revoked were “either minor formal inaccuracies” or concerned aspects “which as such should not result in a radio station being unable to continue its activities,” the court explained on Thursday.
It was one of several proceedings at the ECJ against Hungary over alleged violations of EU law. Hungary’s right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is accused of systematically suppressing critical voices in the judiciary, media and civil society and restricting the rights of minorities. Orbán has long been a sharp critic of the EU, and at the same time Hungary is one of Russia’s last allies in the European Union.
