Hungarian government: EU funds used to blackmail Hungary

Political communication preceding last week’s European Council session and documents that have come to light since “are proof that the European Parliament and the European Commission are using EU funds as a tool to politically pressurise Hungary”, the EU affairs minister said on Thursday.

In a post on Facebook, János Boka noted “a long-standing dispute over objective criteria, European values and rule-of-law standards” when it came to the release of EU funds to Hungary.

Putting Hungary under pressure in this way had been possible owing to “how regulations are phrased”, he said.

After the EP elections, an objective and fair procedure would hopefully be backed by the majority in the newly formed European Commission, he said, and this would change the situation regarding Hungary’s EU funds.

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Hungarians, he said, were entitled to the EU money, and the government was unwilling to compromise or show flexibility on such issues as the country’s sovereignty, migration or child protection.

Regarding the upcoming EP elections, Boka said Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party “will be an unavoidable player in a real conservative European alternative”. European conservative forces, he added, would emerge stronger from the vote, and Fidesz, the Hungarian prime minister and his government would be instrumental when it came to institutional and structural changes in Brussels.