European Commission not ready to unblock €700 million for Hungary

The confrontation between Brussels and Budapest looks set to continue after two European Commissioners told the European Parliament members that the EU executive is still not ready to unblock €700 billion for Hungary's recovery.

Source: European Pravda, citing Euractiv

Details: Hungary is still waiting to receive funds from the €700 million EU Recovery and Resilience Fund, established in the wake of the COVID pandemic, and the European Commission has said the funds will not be allocated until Viktor Orbán's government addresses long-standing issues of judicial bias and the rule of law.

Addressing the European Parliament on Tuesday (21 November), Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders hailed a new Hungarian law introduced in June that aims to address EU concerns about the independence of the judiciary 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," the official said.

Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn told European lawmakers 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".

The Commissioner added, "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 parliament came after Orbán's Fidesz party submitted a bill to parliament on "protecting national sovereignty" to protect against what it labelled as improper political interference by foreign individuals or groups.

The draft law went hand in hand with launching a billboard campaign that harshly criticised Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President.

"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," stressed EPP lawmaker Jeroen Lenaers.

Background: Hungarian officials have recently indicated that their support for new EU aid to Ukraine might depend on the European Commission providing funds for Hungary's recovery. Earlier this week, Orbán sent a letter to European Council President Charles Michel demanding an "urgent" discussion and urging other EU leaders to review aid programmes for Ukraine and the sanctions regime against Russia.

"Abusing a veto for blackmail is a cynical and a shameful practice that should be abolished, not rewarded," Lenaers noted.

"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," the official added.

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