Summit meeting - Biggest bribe or standard procedure? EU releases blocked billions for Hungary
Despite ongoing criticism of the rule of law, the European Commission is releasing ten billion euros in frozen EU funds for Hungary. Brussels justified the move by stating that Hungary had fulfilled the necessary requirements. Other budget funds amounting to almost twelve billion euros and billions in coronavirus aid remain blocked.
EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said that Hungary had fulfilled all the agreed requirements with the latest judicial reforms and that there were now sufficient guarantees that the independence of the judiciary in Hungary would be strengthened. However, today's decision was not the end of the process. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and react early if there are any setbacks.
Will Hungary reconsider its blockade?
It is now eagerly awaited whether the release of the funds will have an impact on the blockade threatened by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the upcoming EU summit.
At their summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, the heads of state and government of the European Union want to decide on the start of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine. The meeting will also discuss the long-term EU budget for the period 2021 to 2027. However, Hungary has threatened to veto both issues.
Orban argued that the European Commission's proposal for the start of accession negotiations was not compatible with a summit decision from June 2022.
He was alluding to the fact that the Brussels authority is recommending the start regardless of reform requirements that have not yet been fully met. However, the summit decision states that further steps in the accession process should only be decided once "all these conditions have been fully met". This applies regardless of the fact that the start of EU accession negotiations would primarily be a symbolic step, as the talks are likely to take many years and Ukraine's accession before the end of the Russian war of aggression is considered impossible. He described the Commission's proposal on the draft budget as insubstantial, unbalanced and unrealistic.
"Biggest bribe in the history of the EU"
In the end, it remained unclear whether Orban only wanted to increase pressure in order to obtain the frozen subsidies for his country. Some EU diplomats believe this is conceivable, while others point out that Orban recently claimed that he would not back down on the issue of Ukraine even after the release of funds.
The European Parliament sharply criticized the EU Commission's decision. Green MEP Daniel Freund said: "Ursula von der Leyen is now paying the biggest bribe in the history of the EU - ten billion euros - to the autocrat and Putin friend Viktor Orban." The leaders of the Christian Democrat, Social Democrat and Liberal groups in the European Parliament also accused the authority of unjustly releasing the funds.
The EU Commission, on the other hand, said on Wednesday: If you do not want to make yourself vulnerable, you should not continue to withhold the ten billion euros after the recent Hungarian reforms. However, it is annoying that the decision now has to be made directly before the EU summit this Thursday and Friday and that the impression is now being created that there could be a connection with blockade threats by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The EU had blocked the funds amounting to around 22 billion euros due to concerns that too little was being done to combat corruption and uphold the rule of law under Prime Minister Orban. The EU Commission has been accusing Hungary of undermining EU standards and fundamental values for years. The authority has launched a number of infringement proceedings and taken Hungary to the European Court of Justice several times.
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- UN vote urges Israel to ceasefire
- SPD rules out budget resolution before the end of the year
- Following the release of ten billion euros in frozen EU funds for Hungary, EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders expects to see if it will influence Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's blockade threat at the upcoming EU summit.
- During the EU summit in Brussels, the leaders will decide on the start of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and discuss the EU budget for 2021 to 2027, despite Hungary's threat to veto both issues.
- According to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the European Commission's recommendation for the start of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine is not compatible with a prior summit decision, citing unmet reform requirements.
- At the summit meeting, Orban also criticized the European Commission's proposal for the EU budget as "insubstantial, unbalanced, and unrealistic."
- Some EU diplomats believe that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban may be using the blockade threat as leverage to secure the release of frozen subsidies for his country, while others claim he will remain firm on opposing Ukraine's EU accession negotiations.
- Green MEP Daniel Freund accused the EU Commission of paying the "biggest bribe in the EU's history" to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with the ten billion euros released, furthering the criticism against the decision by the European Parliament.
- The EU Commission responded to the criticism by stating that withholding the ten billion euros after the Hungarian reforms would make them vulnerable, adding that the decision's timing before the EU summit had created an impression of a connection with blockade threats by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Source: www.stern.de
