European Parliament may declare no confidence in European Commission over unfreezing of €10 billion for Hungary

Lithuanian MEP Petras Auštravičius has said that signatures are being collected in the European Parliament for a vote of no confidence in the European Commission due to the unfreezing of €10 billion for Hungary on the eve of the recent Ukraine-focused EU summit.

Source: Auštrevičius said this in an interview with Delfi, reports European Pravda

Details: The MEP believes that the unfreezing of the funds was the European Union’s "payment" for Hungary's decision not to block the start of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations.

Quote: "The Commission, in my estimation, made a mistake. If the unfreezing was necessary, it should have been done earlier. I have not seen a single analytical paper from the European Commission on the basis of which they [the funds – ed.] were unfrozen,"  he said.

Auštravičius insists that EU member states were given no warning of the decision by the European Commission.

"So, the decision is a political one, and therefore, who takes the risk? [European Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen. Therefore, some of my colleagues in the European Parliament have begun an initiative process – they are collecting signatures [for a vote] of no confidence in the EC," Auštravičius added.

In his opinion, Viktor Orbán "seems to be the winner" in this situation: "He dictates the conditions, he is the one who starts and ends the process. But Hungary will pay a heavy price for this, because distrust of Orbán has increased even more."

On 13 December, on the eve of the EU summit, the European Commission unlocked €10 billion of EU funds for Hungary that had been frozen over rule-of-law issues. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had previously promised to block financial and political support for Ukraine during the summit.

Ultimately, however, the Hungarian Prime Minister backed down during the vote on opening accession negotiations with Ukraine. 

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