‘Brussels bureaucracy’ attacking Hungary for political reasons?

Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch has slammed EU institutions for not responding to Hungary’s suggestion that they take over the country’s asset declaration law, saying the EU was mired in serious corruption and was reluctant to uncover how political influence is bought systemically.

Fresh information concerning “Qatargate” has not come to light through internal probes but via the Belgian criminal authorities, the ruling party politician told public radio in an interview on Friday. He said the beneficiaries of the “influence-buying system” were not planning to make any changes, and European voters “must sweep this system out of Brussels” in the 2024 European parliamentary elections.

Deutsch also accused the EU institutions of attacking Hungary for “crude political reasons” rather than on a sound legal basis, and he also blamed the European left and the Hungarian “dollar-left” for being behind the attacks. The Fidesz MEP said there was evidence that Hungary had been “baselessly slandered for years and years”, arguing that the EU had trashed Hungary’s original asset declaration system for Hungarian MPs and other public figures and demanded changes. Then, last summer, parts of the European Parliament’s asset declaration system were transposed into Hungarian law, he said. Hungary was on the end of even harsher criticism subsequently, he said, adding that one of the conditions for concluding the rule-of-law procedure was to restore the previous Hungarian asset declaration system.

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The European Commission then declared that the EP asset declaration system contained grave corruption risks, providing evidence that it had previously slandered Hungary’s system by demanding the restoration of the original system. “This is all doubly absurd,” he said.

If the commission declared Hungary’s system fit for purpose, then things should go in this direction, Deutsch said. “What works in Budapest as an EU member must work in Brussels, too,” he added.