Hajnal and Others v. Hungary

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 19597/25 Tibor HAJNAL and Others against Hungary

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 21 May 2026 as a Committee composed of:

Stéphane Pisani , President , Juha Lavapuro, Hugh Mercer , judges ,

and Attila Teplán, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application against Hungary lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 30 May 2025,

Having regard to the declaration submitted by the respondent Government requesting the Court to strike the application out of the list of cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.

The applicants were represented by Mr I. Barbalics, a lawyer practising in Budapest.

The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings were communicated to the Hungarian Government (“the Government”).

After unsuccessful friendly-settlement negotiations, the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make unilateral declaration with a view to resolving the issues raised by these complaints. They further requested the Court to strike out the application in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.

The Government acknowledged the excessive length of civil proceedings. They offered to pay the applicants the amounts detailed in the appended table and invited the Court to strike the application out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. The amounts would be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay this amount within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.

The applicants were sent the terms of the Government’s unilateral declaration several weeks before the date of this decision. The Court has not received a response from the applicants accepting the terms of the declaration.

The Court observes that Article 37 § 1 (c) enables it to strike a case out of its list if:

“... for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application”.

Thus, it may strike out applications under Article 37 § 1 (c) on the basis of a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicants wish the examination of the case to be continued (see, in particular, the Tahsin Acar v. Turkey judgment (preliminary objections) [GC], no. 26307/95, §§ 75 ‑ 77, ECHR 2003-VI).

The Court has established clear and extensive case-law concerning complaints relating to the excessive length of civil proceedings (see, for example, Gazsó v. Hungary, no. 48322/12, 16 July 2015 and Csatári and Others v. Hungary [Committee], no. 18514/24, 20 May 2025).

Noting the admissions contained in the Government’s declaration as well as the amount of compensation proposed – which is consistent with the amounts awarded in similar cases – the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 (c)).

In the light of the above considerations, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine ).

Finally, the Court emphasises that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of their unilateral declaration, the application may be restored to the list in accordance with Article 37 § 2 of the Convention ( Josipović v. Serbia (dec.), no. 18369/07, 4 March 2008).

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government’s declaration and of the arrangements for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein;

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 11 June 2026.

Attila Teplán Stéphane Pisani Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

Application raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention

(excessive length of civil proceedings)

Application no. Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Date of receipt of Government’s declaration

Date of receipt of applicant’s comments, if any

Amount awarded for pecuniary and non ‑ pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant

(in euros) [1]

19597/25

30/05/2025

(44 applicants)

Tibor HAJNAL

1975

Anita ÁGOSTONNÉ WEKSZLI

1975

Zsolt István ALBERT

1972

Gyöngyi ALBERT -ZARTL

1953

Erika BERZSENYI-RÉDEI

1972

István László BORSICS

1961

Attila Pál EICHINGER

1958

Ágoston FETT

1978

Ferencé FETT

1950

Tamásné FODOR

1936

Józsefné FRÜHWIRT

1950

Lászlóné GANGLER

1950

Violetta GANGLER

1978

Balázs GYENESE

1969

Anna HAJNAL

2006

Lászlóné HAJNAL

1950

Zoltán HAJNAL

1979

Oszkár Zoltán HETTLINGER

1956

Istvánné HORVÁTH

1940

Hajnalka Eszter KÉRINÉ MAITZ

1955

István Gyula KERKÁPOLY

1952

Lászlóné KISS

1974

Veronika KISSNÉ GANGLER

1980

Csaba Norbertné KOVÁCS

1975

Ágnes KOVÁCSNÉ FETT

1971

Gábor Dánielné KÖVÉR

1948

Imre NAGY

1970

István NAGY

1963

Lajos NAGY

1942

Lajosné NAGY

1969

Pál NÉMETH

1935

Tibor Sándor PATAKY

1958

István SOMOGYI

1942

Miklós SOMOGYI

1958

István Gyula SZABÓ

1948

Ildikó SZÉKELY

1954

Margit Éva SZENTÉNÉ BOGDÁN

1953

Anna Lilióza

SZILÁGYINÉ MERCS

1956

János TÖRÖK

1965

Klára Lívia

TÖRÖKNÉ HETTLINGER

1958

Júlia Anna VARGA

1952

Zsuzsanna VIDA

1976

Miklósné WEKSZLI

1955

Zoltán WEKSZLI

1962

02/03/2026

05/04/2026

200

[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.