Instead of funding, questions arrived from the EU to Hungary

Hungary is awaiting EUR 13 billion in EU funding, but the European Commission has posed two questions to Hungary instead of releasing the funds.

Last week, the European Commission sent a letter to Budapest, posing two questions to the Hungarian government regarding judicial reform. The ECJ has pointed out that this is the second letter from the European Union’s top authority inquiring about the specifics of the reform.

The Commission has stated that the sooner Hungary responds, the sooner a decision will be made regarding the release of most of the EU funding, which is currently on hold. This funding amounts to approximately EUR 13 billion.

According to Népszava, the correspondence between Budapest and Brussels is not public. However, it is likely that the two questions address the same issues that were presented to the European Parliament.

European officials have raised concerns about the special rules integrated into the Curia’s case-allocation system, which still leave room for manipulation. They also criticised the fact that the right of judges to refer preliminary rulings to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) could continue to be restricted due to a precedent-setting decision by the Court of Cassation.

The ball is in Hungary’s court

Hahn said that the commission aims to enforce the rule of law regulation, which also affects Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe funds. The Austrian commissioner noted that there have been some developments, but they remain insufficient.

Issues related to the independence of the judiciary are hindering the entire seven-year budget, while violations of academic freedom, treatment of refugees and discrimination against the LGBTQ community are rendering an additional EUR 2.5 billion out of reach, as reported by rtl.hu.”

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