On Monday, lawmakers approved constitutional amendments which were earlier initiated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, in a move to give more autonomy to political media campaigns ahead of next year’s election.
The amendments will remove prior restrictions on political campaigns and allow parties to advertise in both state-funded and private media ahead of parliamentary and European Parliament elections next year.
The government must also withdraw taxes aimed at curtailing expenses brought on by the international court rulings.
This is while the European Commission threatened to proceed with legal action, saying the constitutional changes could run against EU norms and the principle of the rule of law.
The EU, the United States, Germany and human rights groups have accused Orban's government of manipulating the constitution to limit the powers of Hungary's top court and weaken democracy.
However, Orban earlier warned that the country has fallen under attack because his policies threaten the interests of foreign business lobbies.
On March 15, the prime minister compared parallels between the policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Nazi invasion of his country in 1944 during the course of World War II.
In January, the EU pressured Orban to keep Hungary’s budget deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, and thus Orban has introduced measures to avoid cuts in EU aid.
Critics in Brussels argue that Hungary is sliding into a dictatorship, and state that the country should be expelled from the EU.
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