Hungarian lawmakers approve bill to quit International Criminal Court
Hungary's parliament approved a bill on Tuesday that will start the country's year-long withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court, which Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government said has become 'political.'Orban's government announced the move on April 3, shortly after Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary for a state visit in a rare trip abroad in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant. The ICC's Presidency of the Assembly of State Parties expressed concern at the move.The International Criminal Court was set up more than two decades ago to prosecute those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.Orban last month said the ICC was 'no longer an impartial court, a rule-of-law court, but rather a political court.'Hungary has rejected the idea of arresting the Israeli prime minister and has called the warrant 'brazen.'Hungary is a founding member of the ICC and ratified its founding document in 2001. However, the law has not been promulgated.The bill to withdraw from the ICC passed on Tuesday with 134 members voting in favor and 37 against.'Hungary firmly rejects the use of international organizations — in particular criminal courts — as instruments of political influence,' the bill, submitted by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen, said on parliament's website.Netanyahu called Hungary's decision to leave the ICC a 'bold and principled decision.'The Israeli prime minister faces an ICC arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel expands its military operation in the Palestinian enclave. Netanyahu has denied the allegations.A country's withdrawal from the ICC comes into effect one year after the United Nations Secretary-General receives a written notification of the decision.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
34 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israeli Assets Slide as Regional Tensions Escalate
The cost of insuring Israel's debt against default rose on Thursday, and its bond prices and stock indexes slid, as regional security concerns spiked and the country's own government wobbled. Israel's five-year credit default swaps rose nine basis points (bps) from Wednesday's close, to reach 107 bps, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, while its international dollar bonds slid more than 1 cent, Reuters reported. The 100-year issuance, which matures in 2120, shed more than 1.3 cents before retracing some of the loss to be bid at 67 cents on the dollar, Tradeweb data showed. "A possibility of a more pronounced geopolitical deterioration may take its toll on the local economy and the fiscal deficit, and also make it more challenging for Bank of Israel to lower its rates later this year," said Ronen Menachem, chief markets economist with Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. The United States has restricted government employees' travel outside certain Israeli cities, and pulled some personnel out of the Middle East, due to escalating tensions with Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu more time resolve its worst political crisis yet and avoid a ballot that polls suggest he would parliament rejected early on Thursday a preliminary vote to dissolve itself, giving the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Israel's stocks also slid, with the blue-chip and the broader indexes down roughly 2%. The shekel currency fell just less than 1% versus the US dollar, to 3.56, but remained up 2% year to date. Still, Menachem noted that local indexes are near all-time highs, and assets have rebounded from other recent security related declines. Markets broadly moved into risk-off mode, with oil prices spiking and fixed income instruments in other emerging markets coming under downward pressure.
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
NATO chief hopeful of spending deal as he meets allies in Rome
NATO chief Mark Rutte said Thursday he was 'pretty confident' of getting a deal on boosting defense spending at a summit later this month, as he met European allies in Rome. He joined foreign ministers and diplomats from Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Poland, Spain, Ukraine and the EU to discuss defense spending and their support for Kyiv, as Russia escalates its bombardments. The meeting of the so-called 'Weimar+' group comes ahead of a G7 summit in Canada on June 15-17, where allies will push US President Donald Trump to be more aggressive in punishing the Kremlin. It will be followed by a NATO meeting in The Hague on June 24-25, where the focus will be reaching a deal that satisfies Trump's demands to spend five percent of GDP on defence. Rutte is urging NATO members to commit to 3.5 percent of GDP on direct military spending by 2032, and an additional 1.5 percent on broader security-related expenditure. 'We are discussing the final decisions we will take in The Hague. I'm pretty confident indeed... that we will get to a joint position, all 32 (members)', he told reporters heading into the talks in Rome. He praised Trump's efforts to reach a peace deal in Ukraine by talking directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying 'he broke the deadlock' -- even if the discussions are stalled. Russia has fired record numbers of drones and missiles at Ukraine over recent weeks, escalating three years of daily bombardments as it outlines hardline demands -- rejected by Kyiv as 'ultimatums' -- to halt the war. Rutte noted that Russia had sent a historian to talks in Istanbul, 'explaining more or less that Ukraine is at fault here. I think that's not helpful, but at least, step by step, we try to make progress.' Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the meeting host whose country spends 1.5 percent of GDP on defense, said he was 'very happy' with Rutte's spending plan. 'For Italy it's important to spend more but we need more time, 10 years, I think it is more or less possible to achieve this goal,' he said.
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
UK is monitoring Middle East situation, no update on staffing: PM's spokesperson
Britain is monitoring the situation in the Middle East but has no update on staffing in the region, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday after the United States announced it was moving some personnel due to security concerns. 'The safety of our staff is clearly our top priority so we are monitoring the situation closely but I don't have an update ... in terms of any partial evacuation or otherwise of our own embassies,' the spokesperson told reporters.
