Justice minister Varga: Technical negotiations on judicial commitments concluded with EC

After a clarification of political matters, technical negotiations on judicial commitments have been concluded between Hungary and the European Commission, Justice Minister Judit Varga said on Monday.

European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders has confirmed that the technical negotiations are concluded and only the approval of the European college of commissioners is needed, Varga said in Brussels.

Monday’s talks represented a milestone in building confidence between the EU and Hungary, she added.

“In line with an agreement made last December, Hungary has considered the judicial package a priority issue since the start of this year for access to cohesion funding and recovery funds,” she said.

Varga said that while the negotiations were under way, various left-wing European and Hungarian media outlets were spreading fake news.

“Whenever they saw that the talks were progressing well, they started kicking up a storm,” she said.

“[Opposition DK leader] Ferenc Gyurcsány recently admitted in an interview that they had put a lot of work in getting the Commission to raise newer and newer obstacles to the fulfilment of the agreement,” she added.

She said she did not expect the EC to raise further requirements, but the body was under political pressure.

“It depends on the courage and professionality of the European Commission how much they will be able to resist the European Parliament’s politically motivated pressure which lacks any professionality and is purely political blackmail and a power play,” she said.