LIST: Here’s why Hungary has not received the EU funds yet
The EU withholds several billion euros of funding from Hungary due to rule of law concerns. It is still unclear whether the Hungarian government is willing to comply with each of the EU’s requests.
Hungary has to change many aspects of its internal policies to comply with the rule of law requirements of the EU. Otherwise, the block will freeze indefinitely the funds that the country would be otherwise entitled to. But index.hu reports that there is still a long way to go before EU funds are transferred to the Hungarian budget.
The site cites sources with good knowledge of the situation from Brussels saying that alongside the rule of law requirements other specific issues, such as academic independence or certain passages of the child protection law have to be modified.
- Read also: EU funds will not arrive on time to Hungary
17 items and the list just grows
Index writes that overall the EU has frozen over EUR 21 billion of funds that Hungary would be entitled to between 2021-2027. The site also lists 17 corrective measures that Hungary must comply with:
- Strengthening the prevention, detection, and correction of infringements and irregularities in the implementation of EU funds through the newly created Integrity Authority.
- Establishment of an Anti-Corruption Agency.
- Strengthening the anti-corruption framework.
- Ensure transparency in the use of EU funding by public interest trusts.
- Introduce a specific procedure for major offences relating to the exercise of public authority or the management of public property.
- Strengthen audit and control mechanisms to ensure proper use of EU funding.
- Reduce the proportion of single tender procedures financed by EU funds.
- Reduce the proportion of single tender procedures financed from the national budget.
- Develop a reporting tool to monitor and report on procurement procedures closed with a single tender.
- Develop the Electronic Procurement System (EKR) to increase transparency.
- Develop a performance measurement framework to assess the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of public procurement.
- Adopt an action plan to increase the level of competition in public procurement.
- Provide training on public procurement practices for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
- Develop a support scheme to reimburse the costs of participation of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in public procurement.
- Implementation of Arachne (it is an integrated IT tool for data mining, which helps track information on all EU-funded projects and screen potential for abuse of power).
- Strengthen cooperation with OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office.
The EU identified these 17 corrective measures back on 18 September 2022, and as index.hu writes the list has grown to 27 items.
Questions around judicial independence
According to index.hu, the European Commission is most concerned with the issue of judicial independence, which blocks nearly 98 percent of all cohesion funds.
However, Péter Heck, Head of the Faculty of Law Department at ELTE told index.hu that the government should also include the proposals of the National Council of the Judiciary and civil society organisations, such as the Hungarian branch of Amnesty International, who criticised the government for the lack of independence of the Constitutional Court. Current Chief Prosecutor of Hungary, Péter Polt spent 7 years at Fidesz. The Hungarian opposition and the EU have previously criticised his appointment due to a conflict of interest.
Read alsoHungary receives billions more in EU money, but it’s already blocked
Source: index.hu
Orban & co will tell on TV and radio that EU is still blocking funds and is not willing to help save Hungary. I would love to be able to understand Hungarian and watch the news on TV to see the anti-EU propaganda
Orban and his MOB broke Laws of the European Union, that the rulings findings – handed down by the Courts of Justice of the European Union – clearly outlined reason(s) in there judgement rulings.
Hungary, under Orban – abused and misused funding from the European Union, falsifying information in lodgement of documents, that was an activity of Fraud, in what funding was required for, but then in typical Orban practice, used funds for “other” purposes.
WHAT a Orban cataclysmic DISASTER – this DEEPENING separation, possible suspension or expelling from the European Union, and the Humongous strain it is putting on Hungary, millions of Hungarians, through the wrongful decisions and actions undertaken by Orban and his MOB.
Try as they may, history never LIES, but the Fidesz Propaganda machine will never bury the factuality of this undertaking by Orban and his Mob, on the European Union.
The simple answer why the EU will not release funds, Hungary refuses to cede its sovereignty to the EU, globalists and US. Over the years, too much Hungarian blood had been spilled to finally gain sovereignty.
It is interesting, after checking old newspapers if round, there was a loss less criticism of the government under Russian dictatorship from EU countries and especially from Sweden.
@mariavontheresa – s you may recall, we signed up as a Member of the European Union after the Hungarian people overwhelmingly (80 plus percent in a 2003 referendum.
To become a Member, we had to meet the accession criteria, perhaps better known as the Copenhagen criteria. These are the essential conditions all candidate countries must satisfy to become a member state. These are:
1. political criteria: stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities;
2. economic criteria: a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces; and
3. administrative and institutional capacity to effectively implement the acquis and ability to take on the obligations of membership.
The acquis is the body of common rights and obligations that is binding on all the EU member states. It is constantly evolving and comprises:
a. the content, principles and political objectives of the Treaties;
b. legislation adopted pursuant to the Treaties and the case law of the Court of Justice;
c. declarations and resolutions adopted by the Union;
d. instruments under the Common Foreign and Security Policy; and
e. international agreements concluded by the Union and those entered into by the member states among themselves within the sphere of the Union’s activities.
It is of course expected that Members uphold these criteria (club rules), and yes, in return for EU Membership, you relinquish a degree of sovereignty. If you want to remain sovereign – don’t enter into treaties. multilateral agreements, etc. Which is almost impossible in our increasingly complex and interdependent world.
Regarding “criticism” of Hungary – you may want to take another look at Finland, because they definitely weren’t pulling any punches. It was their Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2019 that set the scene for Hungary being held to account – if you recall …
Ahhh… If it wasn’t for the US and NATO, Russian would still be taught at our schools. The good old days???
For the 15.9% of this population who neither have or use internet, they will believe what the government tells them; the EU is blocking funds for no reason, and Fidesz has complied with everything that was required blah, blah. The interesting thing is that a lot of Hungarians are criticising the government. Many people know that Orban lies, that funding has been siphoned off for personal reasons. There’s a lot of very unflattering and humiliating pictures, photos and statements making their way round various websites.
Was wondering if anyone saw the rap that was made from an AI chat bot….? It was asked by a German MEP to compose a rap on corruption in Hungary….!
He’s been stacking the courts, packing the press
Making sure his critics are silences, no less
Using public funds to line his own pockets
It’s time to call him out, let’s unlock it
From football clubs to luxury castles
Orban’s empire is built on scams and hustles
It’s time to clean up, it’s time to fight
We won’t back down until Orban’s out of sight