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Over corruption concerns, Hungary could lose multi-billion-euro defence loan
Despite the launch of the second wave of the EU’s SAFE defence loan programme, the fate of Hungary’s “mega-loan” remains undecided. The assessment of the country’s EUR 17.3 billion request is unlikely to be concluded before February, and Brussels has tied approval to unexpected rule-of-law and anti-corruption guarantees.
Corruption can prevent another big fund
The European Commission has taken another step towards expanding EU defence financing: in the second round of SAFE (Security Action for Europe), the national investment and procurement plans of eight member states have been given the green light. However, as reported by Portfolio, the package approved so far does not include Hungary’s substantial EUR 17.3 billion request, which is expected to be assessed only at the very end of the process.
In this second wave, the Commission approved the plans of Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Finland. SAFE has a dual objective: on the one hand, to rapidly strengthen member states’ defence capabilities, and on the other, to promote joint procurement based on the European defence industry. Accordingly, the programme explicitly favours projects in which at least two countries participate jointly.
From Hungary’s perspective, Italy’s role is therefore particularly important, as the government is in talks with Rome on joint procurements in several areas involving SAFE funding. While such a partnership could improve the chances of Hungarian projects, it does not replace the need to meet the conditions required for approval by Brussels.
In total, 19 EU member states have indicated their intention to participate in the SAFE loan instrument. In the first round, in mid-January, several countries’ plans already passed the initial screening, while larger-scale requests were deferred. According to the Commission, these include Hungary as well as France and Poland, partly due to more in-depth financial scrutiny and examinations related to the rule of law. Decisions are expected in early February.
The notion that the EU would consider itself as qualified to judge whether some other institution or country would be corrupt, is really to fantastical to contemplate!
On the other hand, one might very well make the argument that only someone in possession of a true expertise in corruption could spot corruption somewhere else.
Being a simple Redneck, however, the kind who would be supporting Toroczkai László if he were Hungarian, I have to go with my gut instinct : The EU will never ever give Hungary another penny, so long as Orbán Viktor is in charge.
Question…
Why are they, Bruxelles, so put off by Hungary’s leader?
Because…
A. He refused to help them make Hungary a homosexual-dominant country.
B. He refused to help them replace Hungarians, in Hungary, with non-Europeans.
C. He refused to help them destroy millions of Ukrainian lives, this in a futile attempt at removing Vladimir Putin from office, so that they could remove Russia as a serious international competitor and, as well, so that they could pirate out Russian assets, just as they did in the 1990s.
D. He has repeatedly made them look foolish in front of the whole world.
Conclusion?
Orbán Viktor must be corrupt.
For such a man, The Western Elite can have it no other way.
Ah, Mouton, always a paragon of “simple Redneck” logic. When faced with an article detailing how Hungary might lose a 17.3 billion euro defence loan over documented corruption concerns, his brilliant analysis is that the EU is only offended because Orbán opposes homosexuality and refuses to “replace Hungarians.” It’s a breathtaking leap—transparently deflecting from the actual, serious allegations of graft and procurement issues by painting it all as a culture war.
The perfect Russian bot script: never engage with the facts, just redirect to a pre-programmed list of phantom threats and declare any criticism a political hit job.
His “gut instinct” is less an opinion and more a factory reset to the default propaganda setting.