Always trouble with Brussels: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
Image: AP
The EU Commission is demanding far-reaching reforms from Hungary. It’s not just about the judiciary, but also about asylum, universities and LGBTQ. Otherwise no money will flow.
KShortly before Christmas, when Brussels was already noticeably empty, the EU Commission sent out an apparently unspectacular press release. They “today accepted a partnership agreement with Hungary”, it said, the basis for the investment of 22 billion euros from the EU budget, which are planned for the country until 2027. These are the so-called cohesion funds, which are intended to compensate for differences between the Member States, and internal security funds. Eleven individual programs are planned for Hungary: billions for the renovation of buildings, for economic modernization, for better education and for disadvantaged groups such as Roma.
However, in the second half of the communication, the Commission pointed out that Member States have to meet requirements “to ensure the effective and efficient use of funds” – and that Hungary does not meet these requirements. This not only affects the fight against corruption and judicial reforms, which the country had to commit to in order to get money from the Corona reconstruction fund. There are also deficits in the implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, due to discrimination based on sexual orientation, the restriction of academic freedom and the right to asylum. In the most beautiful bureaucratic language, the Commission concluded by pointing out that “in the event of non-fulfilment of the basic requirements” it “cannot reimburse the correspondingly claimed expenses”.
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