Two EU commissioners have told MEPs that the EU executive is still not ready to allocate billions of euros in reconstruction funds to Hungary.
Hungary is still waiting to receive funds from the EU’s €700 million recovery and resilience fund, which was set up after the Covid pandemic. However, the European Commission states that the funds will not be disbursed until Viktor Orbán’s government resolves long-standing issues of judicial bias and the rule of law.
On November 21, Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders welcomed a new Hungarian law introduced in June that seeks to address EU concerns about judicial independence, calling it “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.
Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn told MEPs that “there has already been some valuable changes in Hungary.” For instance, an integrity body has been established, so there are now ways to appeal a prosecutor’s decision not to prosecute a case. Moreover, OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office, has now strengthened co-operation structures in the country.
The debate in parliament began after Orbán’s Fidesz party submitted a bill to parliament on “protecting national sovereignty” to defend against what it called unwarranted political interference by foreign individuals or groups. The bill was accompanied by the launch of an advertising campaign sharply criticising European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Jeroen Lenaers, an EPP lawmaker, stated:
“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.”
Orbán’s government has also launched a public consultation on whether additional aid should be given to Ukraine until Hungary receives recovery funds. However, Lenaers sharply condemned Orbán’s policy.
“Abusing a veto for blackmail is a cynical and a shameful practice that should be abolished, not rewarded. 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.”
Balázs Hidvéghi, a Fidesz MEP, responded that this refusal by the EU to allocate funds was “pure blackmail.” Head of the Fidesz delegation to Strasbourg, Tamas Deutsch, declared:
No matter what the left-wing [in the Parliament] does, we’ll defend Hungarian sovereignty.
