Hungary Is Right: The ICC Should Be Dismantled
19th May 2025
Hungary has recently decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), with the decision confirmed by the country’s parliament in late April. In Italy, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has praised the Hungarian decision, calling it “a sovereign and courageous choice.” He’s right: Budapest’s decision is not merely a diplomatic snub; it is a commendable assertion of national sovereignty against a leftover of the decaying globalist order.
Founded in the early days of “end of History” euphoria, the ICC was sold to the world as a guarantor of universal justice and a mechanism to hold the world’s tyrants to account. Yet, in practice, it has morphed into a highly politicised instrument, infringing on the autonomy of nations and browbeating them into—liberal—ideological conformity. Hungary is right in wanting to break free from its control.
The ICC’s foundational design flaw lies in its assault on national sovereignty. Nations are only meaningfully sovereign entities when and if they are answerable to their own laws and to the interests of their people. The ICC, however, absurdly claims a global and supranational authority, asserting the right to prosecute individuals—often state officials—without regard for domestic legal systems. Incredibly—indeed, illegally—itt claims jurisdiction even over states that are not signatories of the Rome Statute that created the Court. This is hardly justice; it is overreach. And it is unacceptable.