The European Commission has stepped up its infringement procedure against Hungary and filed a suit with the European Court of Justice for Hungary’s tying public notary positions to Hungarian citizenship. It said Hungary has violated the freedom of settling in another country through excluding the citizens of other EU members from such jobs. The EC added that Hungary’s precondition cannot be derived from the EU treaty. It highlighted earlier rulings in which the ECJ condemned several EU members saying that the activities of public notaries are not tied to the execution of public authority, therefore being a citizen of the given country cannot be set as a criterion for the job.

The EC said that the work of public notaries in Hungary does not differ significantly from that in Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Austria or the Netherlands, involved in the earlier suits. Hungary has, however, maintained its position and insisted on the contested precondition, the EC said. “A direct and specific connection of an activity to the exercise of official authority is established if the activity is not just auxiliary or preparatory to its exercise and contains discretionary decision-making powers in contentious cases, powers of constraint or powers of coercion,” the EC said.