A report by the Council of Europe (CoE) says that the independence of Hungary’s judiciary has been threatened by recent reforms.

The report, issued by the CoE’s advisory body on constitutional affairs on Monday (19 March), says that the reforms has resulted in a “concentration of powers” in the hands of the president of Hungary’s National Judicial Office (NJO), a position introduced as part of the reforms. The office is responsible for the administration of Hungary’s courts system and its president has powers to name all new judges.

According to Council’s Venice Commission, no other member state of the EU has such powers vested in a single person “lacking sufficient democratic accountability”.

The report says that the reforms, introduced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s centre-right government, are a “threat to the independence of the judiciary”, and if the reforms stay in place, they would contradict European judicial standards and pose a risk to the right of fair trial, which is guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Venice Commission report also raises concerns over the move to reduce the retirement age of judges. It urged the Hungarian government to introduce “a less intrusive” retirement system for judges and for a gradual decrease of the upper age limit.

The Hungarian government is understood to have offered to introduce a more flexible approach to retirement ages. Thomas Markert, the executive-secretary of the Venice Commission, will the Venice Commission’s opinion with Commission officials on Thursday (22 March).

The report is to feed into the European Commission’s infringement procedure against Hungary. The Commission is investigating whether legislation requiring judges to retire at 62 is in line with EU law. Commission officials are concerned that the selection of judges could be politically motivated.