The stand-off between Brussels and Budapest will continue after two EU Commissioners told MEPs that the EU executive is still not ready to unlock billions of euros in recovery funds for Hungary.
Hungary is still waiting to receive funds from the €700 million EU’s recovery and resilience fund which was set up in the wake of the COVID pandemic, with the European Commission stating that the funds will not be released until Viktor Orbán’s government resolves longstanding questions of judicial bias and the rule of law.
Speaking in the European Parliament on Tuesday (21 November), Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, welcomed a new Hungarian law tabled in June, which aims to address the EU’s concerns about judicial independence as “an important step in the right direction”.
“However, it is not the end of the process. Hungary also needs to complete the accompanying implementation steps,” he said.
Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn told MEPs that “there has already been some valuable change in Hungary. For example, there is now an active integrity authority, there are now ways of challenging a prosecutor’s decision not to pursue a case, and OLAF [the European Anti-Fraud Office] now has reinforced cooperation structures in Hungary.”
He added that “the dialogue with Hungary is particularly intense on issues regarding the prevention of risks of conflict of interest in the boards of public interest trusts, and the extent of the powers of the newly created integrity authority.”
The debate in the Parliament came as Orbán’s Fidesz party submitted a bill on “protecting national sovereignty” to parliament to defend against what it called undue political interference by foreign persons or groups.
The bill has been accompanied by the launch of a billboard campaign that is highly critical of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“It’s clear that Hungary has not made effective or sufficient progress towards fulfilling the conditions on judicial independence. In fact, the Hungarian Government seems to be putting more efforts into sabotaging and derailing the reforms than into implementing them,” said Jeroen Lenaers, an EPP lawmaker.
The Ukraine question
In recent weeks, Hungarian officials have indicated that their support for new EU aid for Ukraine could be conditioned on the Commission releasing the recovery funds. Earlier this week, Orbán sent a letter to European Council President Charles Michel demanding “urgent” discussions and urged fellow EU leaders to review aid programmes for Ukraine and the sanctions regime against Russia imposed following its invasion.
The Orbán government has also launched a public consultation asking Hungarians whether further aid should be granted to Ukraine until Hungary has received the recovery funds.
“Abusing a veto for blackmail is a cynical and a shameful practice that should be abolished, not rewarded,” said Lenaers.
“Ukraine needs our help and Ukraine must get our help, and the EU must find ways to get that aid to Ukraine without rewarding the dismantling of the rule of law, and Hungary,” he added.
Balázs Hidvéghi, a Fidesz MEP, retorted that the EU’s refusal to sign off the funds was “pure blackmail”.
“No matter what the left-wing (in the Parliament) does, we’ll defend Hungarian sovereignty,” Fidesz delegation leader Tamas Deutsch told reporters in Strasbourg following the debate.
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