At the same time, while recommending the freezing of EU funds under the rule of law conditionality mechanism, the European Commission gave a formal green light to Hungary’s recovery plan.
Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Commission recommended on Wednesday that €7.5 billion of EU funds be withheld from Hungary over rule of law concerns.
Budapest had until November 19 to pass 17 reforms negotiated with the EU’s executive over the summer in order to avoid the freeze threatened by Brussels as part of its rule of law mechanism.
“While a number of reforms have been undertaken or are underway, Hungary failed to adequately implement central aspects of the necessary 17 remedial measures…as it had committed to,” the Commission said.
“As a result, the Commission has decided to maintain its initial proposal of 18 September to suspend 65% of the commitments for three operational programs under cohesion policy, amounting to €7.5 billion,” it added.
Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn argued that the new rule of law conditionality mechanism was “the right tool to apply” as those reforms “would never have happened otherwise.”
On this important topic, Brussels Morning talked to Members of the Parlament.
The EPP Group strongly welcomes the decision of the European Commission to insist that the Hungarian Government must do more to strengthen the rule of law and that the country should not receive any more EU money until remedial measures are fully in place.
“This is a historic moment for the protection of the rule of law in Europe. I am pleased that the Commission clearly said that the EU stands behind its fundamental values”, said Petri Sarvamaa MEP, EPP Group Spokesman on Budgetary Control, who led the negotiations in 2020 on the new EU law which allows the EU to stop funding countries which violate basic democratic principles and the rule of law.
Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats)
“The Hungarian Government had a lot of time to implement the requested measures but it did not do enough. I am glad that the Commission came to the same conclusion as we in the European Parliament did. Now, the onus is on the EU Member States to confirm the same. If EU citizens’ money cannot be protected against irregularities, then it cannot be disbursed”, Sarvamaa added.
At the same time, the EPP Group supports the Commission’s approval of the Hungarian Recovery and Resilience Plan. However, this does not mean that the funds will flow. The EU financing of projects in Hungary depends on the government’s implementation of 27 measures strengthening the rule of law. “The money is ready to be released once all rule of law concerns in Hungary are satisfactorily addressed”, Sarvamaa underlined
