It’s over: European Commission has decided on Hungarian funds

European Commission. Source: MTI/EPA/Ronald Wittek

European Commission has said Hungarian law changes aimed at addressing risks of conflicts of interest regarding “public interest trust” boards were insufficient to warrant the lifting of EU budget conditionality measures.

The measures recommended by the commission “to protect the EU budget from breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary” were adopted on December 15, 2022, by the European Council, the EC noted in a statement.”These breaches related to the areas of public procurement, prosecutorial action, conflict of interest, the fight against corruption and the public interest trusts,” the statement noted.

“Hungary formally notified the commission about specific legislative amendments regarding public interest trusts and entities maintained by them” on Dec 2, and asked the commission to propose to the council that the measures be adapted or lifted.

The commission said Hungary’s changes to the law did not “adequately address the outstanding concerns on conflicts of interests” regarding the boards, so the measures should remain in place. It added that “adaptations that would be needed to remedy the situation sufficiently” had been outlined to the government.

“Hungary can at any time adopt and notify new remedies to demonstrate to the Commission that the measures adopted by the Council should be adapted or lifted,” the statement said.

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2 Comments

Janos says:

17/12/2024 at 11:20

Ha ha… finally the EU is calling the criminals out for who they are… criminals.
Norbert says:

17/12/2024 at 11:29

For the deep dive on why the EU reacted like it did:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2023.2234941#d1e202

TLDR:

“While the introduction of boards with significant decision-making power aligns with international governance trends, the Hungarian reform has some distinctive features (EUA Citation2023): the exclusion of institutions from member selection, the high number of pro-government politicians among board members and the lifetime employment of board members.

First, the government selected and appointed all initial board members. The selection process was not transparent and regulated. Institutions formally could not influence the composition of their boards; they could only suggest members informally.

Second, of the 106 seats on the boards of the 21 foundations (as of January 2022), 31 were occupied by active politicians (ministers, state secretaries, members of parliament, mayors, appointed government officials, political counsellors) and 4 ex-politicians of the governing party, but many other seats were distributed to business people and intellectuals openly sympathetic to the governing party.

Third, board members hold the positions for their lifetime and as a person. They can keep their board membership even after they lose their position in the government or institution… Most board members receive substantial remuneration, typically similar or higher than that of university professors.

Finally, the laws governing the status of public interest foundations can only be changed by a qualified (2/3) majority. A new government could change the regulatory environment only with a very strong mandate.

Regulations do not specify the criteria for board member selection, so it is not possible to draw any conclusions about the possible role of the board.”

Criteria for board member selection could not possibly have to do with being a Politician, former Politician, NER Knight, proven friend and/or toadie, could it?