Young protesters take part in a demonstration against a new higher education legislation outside the Presidential Palace in Buda Castle of Budapest | Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images Brussels launches infringement proceedings against Hungary Commission takes action over NGO and education laws.

The European Commission on Thursday said it was launching infringement proceedings against Hungary over the country’s law on foreign-funded NGOs.

At the same time, the Commission also decided to take a second step in its infringement procedure regarding Hungary’s Higher Education Law, known as "Lex CEU," which critics believe targets the Budapest-based Central European University, founded by the billionaire George Soros.

Hungary has been widely criticized for both laws, which many observers at home and abroad believe were designed to weaken independent institutions.

“The law interferes unduly with fundamental rights as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular the right to freedom of association,” the Commission wrote in its decision to pursue infringement proceedings over the NGO legislation.

“The new law could prevent NGOs from raising funds and would restrict their ability to carry out their work,” the Commission said, adding that the law also introduces unjustified and disproportionate restrictions to the free movement of capital and raises concerns about respect of the right to protection of private life and of personal data.

The Commission has sent Hungary a formal letter of notice, and the Hungarian government now has one month to respond.

But it remains unclear whether the Hungarian government is willing to address the Commission’s concerns.

“We, of course, maintain our position,” Zoltán Kovács, spokesman for the Hungarian government, told POLITICO following the Commission’s announcement. The Hungarian government “will answer the letter and go to court if needed,” he said.

NGOs affected by the law believe that infringement procedures are not enough.

“We welcome the Commission's decision to launch the infringement procedure on the Hungarian NGO law,” said Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, one of the NGOs that under the rules would have to register as a foreign-funded entity. The Helsinki Committee, along with several other civil society organizations, has already announced that it will not comply with the law and will fight it in the courts.

“Infringement procedures alone are inadequate to redress the combined impact of retrogressive reforms that have taken place since 2010,” said Pardavi.

“We call on the European Parliament to proceed as expeditiously as possible to draw up a report with a view to triggering Article 7(1),” she said, referring to the section of the EU treaties that would allow for Hungary’s voting rights to be withdrawn.