ASK European Union policymakers what really worries them these days and you are likely to hear of the continuing eurozone crisis, high levels of unemployment and prospects of a British exit from the EU.

Only a few will point to recent constitutional changes in Hungary which many believe are threatening democracy and the rule of law in the Eastern European nation which joined the European Union in 2004.

For those who believe in the EU’s core commitments to human rights, diversity, democracy and the rule of law, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is taking his country down a dangerous road. His moves are not only a menace to Hungary’s democratic future but also to the EU’s global standing and reputation.

I confess that like many in Europe, I have not been paying adequate attention to recent developments in Hungary. Elections in Italy are more interesting. British politics, complete with sad scandals of politicians’ betrayed wives, are almost Shakespearian in their tragi-comic implications.

In comparison, Hungary is far away — not a part of Europe’s mainstream and not very high on the EU agenda. Things may be changing, however. If the EU is to be credible as a global defender of democracy and human rights, it can no longer turn a blind eye to Hungary’s clear disregard of European values.

Critics fear that a recent amendment approved by Hungarian lawmakers weakens the country’s constitutional court and undermines its democratic checks and balances. Orban’s conservative government holds a two-thirds majority in parliament, which it has used to push through a sweeping overhaul of the country’s institutions and its constitution.

Prime Minister Orban disagrees with the critics, however. The much-attacked recent amendments to Hungary’s constitution are in line with EU treaties, he said in Brussels recently, adding: “Hungary’s democratic institutions are strong enough to defend themselves.”

Since 2010, Orban has battled often with the EU over attempts to increase his executive control, ranging from limiting the central bank’s independence to curbing media freedom. His government has altered some legislation to comply with EU demands, but critics claim the changes were only superficial.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has warned that Hungary’s constitutional changes are cause for “great concern,” especially for minorities. “Europe is not only about the market and the currency, but it is also a community of values that we share — human rights, democracy,” Rutte said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also voiced concern, saying a government with such a strong majority bears a special responsibility to protect minorities. European Parliament President Martin Schulz has urged EU leaders not to allow a member state to slide back on the EU’s core principles.

Hungary’s constitutional amendment allows local authorities to fine or jail homeless people, bans political campaign ads on commercial radio and TV stations, and forces university students who accept state scholarships to work in Hungary for years after their graduation.

Crucially, the amendment also limits the court’s right to review constitutional amendments. That allows any government with a two-thirds majority — as is the case with Orban’s Fidesz party — to put whatever it wants into the constitution.

For the EU, it is a terrible dilemma. While the European Commission has sweeping monitoring and enforcement powers on many economic matters, it lacks authority if a member state changes its laws to curb the rule of law or democracy itself.

So far no leading EU politician has explicitly called for Hungary to be stripped of its voting rights in the EU’s institutions, but several EU countries have suggested the setting up of a powerful new watchdog mechanism to monitor legal compliance with the EU’s fundamental values.

Four foreign ministers — from Germany, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands — have highlighted that the EU needs “a new and more effective mechanism to safeguard fundamental values in member states”.

There is no doubt that the 2004 enlargement of the EU has brought several former communist nations into the Union which do not fully share the same norms of democracy, human rights and the rule of law as the others. There is general consensus that if the EU takes no action against their policies and actions, Europe will lose its global credibility and internal legitimacy. “It is important that every country in the EU understands that we belong to a community of values,” according to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

But for all the frustration and denunciation, there is little the EU can do to prompt an immediate change in attitudes. In the case of Hungary, and similar stand-offs with Romania and Bulgaria in recent years, the first response from fellow member states and the European Commission tends to be political pressure or moral persuasion to try to make the government in question change its behaviour.

Beyond political pressure, the Commission can launch what is known as an “infringement proceeding” against a country. But that relies on having hard evidence that EU law has been breached and pursuing the case through tortuous legal channels.

One article of the treaty that binds EU member states together does allow for the near-immediate sanctioning of a member country, but it requires unanimous backing of all other member states and is considered a “nuclear option”. In another era — 2000 — for the first time in its history, the EU did impose diplomatic sanctions on a member state, Austria, after Joerg Haider’s extreme right-wing Austrian Freedom Party entered into government. The sanctions — more symbolic than practical in nature — were lifted after several months.

Some EU politicians believe it is time to take similar action against Hungary. But the majority view is that moral pressure is the best way forward. At least for now.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels.