whereas the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Hungarian authorities, when reviewing the media law, to take account of Council of Europe standards on freedom of expression and media pluralism, the relevant recommendations of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and, in particular, the binding standards set out in the ECHR and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights; whereas he referred to the use of unclear definitions which are open to misinterpretation, the establishment of politically unbalanced regulatory machinery with disproportionate powers which ...[+++] is not subject to full judicial supervision, threats to the independence of public-service broadcast media, and erosion of the protection of journalists’ sources; whereas he also stressed the need for all relevant stakeholders, including opposition parties and civil society, to be able to participate in a meaningful manner in the review of this legislation, which regulates such a fundamental aspect of the functioning of a democratic society (6),

Calls on the Hungarian authorities to review the media law further on the basis of the comments and proposals made by the European Parliament, the Commission, the OSCE and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the case law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights and, in the event that it is found to be incompatible with the letter or spirit of the Treaties or EU law, the Charter of Fundamental Rights or ...[+++]the ECHR, to repeal and not to apply the law or those elements thereof that are found to be incompatible;

Calls on the EU institutions to exploit the full potential of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the EU, in the interests of greater synergy and consistency at European level, and suggests that better use be made of the expertise of the human-rights monitoring mechanisms, standards and findings developed by Council of Europe, thus avoiding duplication of work; reaffirms the need for the Union to be more involved in the work of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and for the EU to take greater account of that work when implementing policies in the field of freedoms, justice and ...[+++]security;

having regard to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights’ ‘Gender Identity and Human Rights’ Issue Paper (2009); Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to member states on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity; and Resolution 1728 (2010) and Recommendation 1915 (2010) of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,

the Council of Europe, by referring to the findings and activities of the Council of Europe's monitoring and control mechanisms and of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights; and

the Council of Europe, by referring to the findings and activities of the Council of Europe's monitoring and control mechanisms and of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights; and