The commission is attempting to freeze €13 billion in European funds normally earmarked for Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, citing the deficit of Hungarian democracy and the resulting failure to fight corruption as the reason.

The European Commission wants to allocate more than 13 billion euros from European funds to Hungary. The respective proposals, which of course have yet to be approved by EU member states, mark a defining moment in the Commission’s battle with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the rule of law, as noted in the Guardian article.

The European Commission proposed in September to freeze 7.5 billion euros of economic development funds for Hungary, fearing that the government of Viktor Orban would not be able to guarantee the correct and reliable use of this money in a transparent environment.

This €7.5 billion can only be made available if 2/3 of the 27 EU Member States, representing 65% of the European Union’s population, support this commitment.

Budapest had until November 19 to take 17 corrective measures. According to this plan, the Hungarian government should have already started to create a special group – a working group to combat corruption, as well as to strengthen the rules that limit the phenomena of conflict of interest in the process of providing public funding.

However, Commissioner Johannes Hahn told reporters yesterday that Budapest “unfortunately has not yet taken corrective measures” although it is “moving in the right direction.”

In addition to these 17 corrective measures, there are ten more key goals, i.e. a total of 27 goals – benchmarks that Budapest had to fulfill in order to gain access to EU funds. Ensuring the independence of the Supreme Court and strengthening the powers of the self-governing National Judicial Council are, for example , two of these goals to be achieved.

If the gap between the Commission and Orban continues until the end of the year, then Hungary risks losing billions, according to the Guardian.

However, in this context, EU officials believe that now is the right time to put pressure on Orban for reforms, as the Hungarian economy needs EU funds, especially now, given everything that happens after the pandemic. the goal of restoration from which it remains) and against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, of course, there is wariness or moderate suspicion about the real mood of the Hungarian leadership. European officials are quick to point out that Orban, in power since 2010, has repeatedly promised reforms in the past, but has actually done the exact opposite of what he promised.

Hungary has been one of the biggest recipients of EU money, with more than 80% of Hungarian public investment coming from European “cohesion funds” aimed at helping Europe’s poorest countries catch up with richer ones.

The NATO-led Hungarian government has angered neighbors and allies for a number of reasons: because it has been highly critical of European sanctions against Russia, even threatening to veto €18 billion in European aid to Ukraine, and because it has at times attempted to blackmail the EU by raising obstacles on seemingly unrelated fronts, obstacles for which he then requires other kinds of compromises to remove.

According to the Guardian