The European Commission puts pressure on the country with the conditionality mechanism to solve its rule of law violations
Threats continue to mark Hungary’s relationship with the European Union. Brussels this Sunday stepped up pressure on the country to resolve its rule of law violations through its mechanism of conditionality of European funds. For example, the Community Executive proposes to freeze 7,500 million euros that the country should receive from the EU.
It is the first time that Brussels has applied the conditionality mechanism to a Member State. Poland and Hungary tried to overthrow this instrument designed to protect European funds and went to the European Justice Department, which eventually approved the mechanism. The ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) was also a warning that any authoritarian turn within the EU will have consequences.
This is also the case with this Sunday’s proposal from Brussels. “This decision clearly demonstrates the Commission’s determination to protect the EU budget and all the tools we have at our disposal to do so,” said Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Budget and Administration.
However, the Community Executive assures that it has noted that Hungary is “taking steps in the right direction”. In December, the country proposed 17 measures to amend the problems identified by the EU, including the amendment of Hungary’s penal code, the creation of an independent judicial authority and an anti-corruption body. “These are appropriate measures and we are positive,” Hahn acknowledged.
The Brussels proposal, which calls for the freezing of 65% of European funds to Hungary, now goes to the European Council. Member States will be given one month – which can be extended to two – to make a decision. In the meantime, the European Commission will continue to monitor the situation and will analyze the state of reforms again on 19 November. “This is a powerful tool and we are optimistic. I think we will see changes in Hungary,” Hahn said.
This week the European Parliament passed a resolution concluding that Hungary is “an electoral autocracy”. EU concerns over the rule of law in the country also keep Hungary’s recovery plan, worth €5.9 billion, frozen. When voting on the text, the European Parliament also expressed its concern about the behavior of Viktor Orbán’s government in light of the war in Ukraine, “because Hungary may be more on the side of Putin and Russia than on the Ukrainian side.” said green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield.
Source: La Verdad
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