Hungary Must Reform Judiciary, Protect Rights To Unblock European Funding, Senior EU Official Says

The European Commission’s vice president for values and transparency, Vera Jourova, says Hungary must meet conditions on reforming its judiciary and ensuring the protection of fundamental rights to unblock EU funding.

Speaking to RFE/RL at its headquarters in Prague on October 13, Jourova said that the government in Budapest is now working on the reforms and taking measures to convince the European Commission “that they corrected things which we wanted them to correct.”

In December 2022, the commission said it would hold back 22 billion euros ($23 billion) of EU funds earmarked for Hungary for the period 2021-2027 until Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government meets conditions related to judicial independence, academic freedoms, LGBTQI rights and the asylum system.

The money was frozen under a recently adopted conditionality mechanism that permits the bloc to take measures to protect its budget.

“The primary goal why we started to block the money was that Hungary will do the necessary reforms of the judiciary system and prosecution. Why? Because we need to be sure that we send the money to the country, which will be able to penalize fraud and corruption,” Jourova said.

“And there is a second condition that the country has to follow the principles of protection of fundamental rights,” she added.

Jourova said the commission would release the money only if Hungary manages to correct these issues.

“I am convinced that they want the money to flow in the country. So, they are working on the reforms. The decision has to be taken in the course of, I don't know, weeks,” Jourova also said.

In October this year, the Financial Times reported that the commission was considering unfreezing part of the funding in a move that could secure Budapest’s support for an increase to the bloc’s budget and significant financial assistance to Ukraine.

But Jourova told RFE/RL that such a deal was not on the table.

“This is a rather technical assessment of what they are doing, and we have to insist that they do everything they promised,” she added.

Hungary has taken some steps toward the EC's demand.

In May, it adopted reforms in response to demands from Brussels but the legislation only addressed some of the wider concerns in Brussels over the erosion of the rule of law and civil liberties in the country.

The discussions over restoring Hungary’s access to the EU funds comes as Brussels seeks unanimous support from the member states for its increased budget before the end of the year, in particular to ensure continuing financial aid to Ukraine.

But the budget top-up needs backing from all 27 member states who will be required to make additional contributions from their national budgets.

Hungary cultivates closer ties with Russia than other EU states and is seen as potential opponent to increased aid for Ukraine, as well as a decision on whether to open accession talks with Kyiv, which is due in December.

Written by Elitsa Simeonova based on an interview by Rikard Jozwiak.