Hungary has promised to correct the problems related to the distribution of budget money. The Commission does not consider the reforms to be sufficient yet, says EU parliamentarian Petri Sarvamaa (Kok), who follows the issue closely.
Brussels
eu-commissio is going to tell a historic proposal on Wednesday: it proposes that the EU funding received by one member state, namely Hungary, be cut.
The reason is that Hungary has violated the rule of law, which is central to the EU, and this has jeopardized the proper distribution of EU budget money within the country.
Hungary had promised to make a total of 17 reforms to fix the issue by November 19. There is a long list of reforms, but in the Commission’s opinion, there are still big gaps in their implementation.
Among other things, Hungary promised to improve the fight against corruption and to ensure that public procurements, i.e. tenders and purchases made by the state and municipalities, are handled properly.
Commission proposes to cut 65 percent of the funding that Hungary has received through the EU Cohesion Fund for three different funding programs. In total, it means a loss of about 7.5 billion euros for Hungary.
EU parliamentarian Petri Sarvamaa (kok) confirms to HS that he has heard from the commission that a presentation on cutting cohesion funds is coming. Sarvamaa was a key negotiator in the EU Parliament when the rule of law mechanism was created in the EU, i.e. the tool with which Hungary’s funding is now being cut. He has been in close contact with the commission recently.
The other week, a group of EU parliamentarians shared their own opinion that Hungary has not made sufficient repairs. According to parliamentarians, the Commission would make a serious mistake if it let Hungary off the hook now.
Read more: In the EU Parliament, Hungary’s actions are not considered sufficient – billions of EU funds may have to be frozen
Commission throws the ball next to the member states, who must finally decide by a qualified majority how they react to the Commission’s proposal. Sarvamaa believes that the majority of countries support the Commission’s proposal.
The decision was made quickly, this information will already be announced at the meeting of EU finance ministers to be held on December 6.
It is still possible that Hungary will suddenly gain momentum in its implementation and will be able to show the member countries that it is serious about the reforms.
From cohesion money separately, Hungary is still waiting for its money from the EU’s recovery instrument, which was created after the coronavirus pandemic.
According to preliminary information, the Commission intends to approve Hungary’s recovery plan, but will not give the country a single euro until the promised rule of law reforms have been completed. The same has been done with Poland.
Hungary originally asked for 7.2 billion euros in grants from the recovery tool, but based on the country’s most recent economic figures, the share has dropped to 5.8 billion euros.
According to the rules, Hungary’s recovery plan must be approved before the end of this year, or the country will permanently lose 70 percent of the promised aid.
Hungary has recently held back EU decision-making and prevented, among other things, the channeling of EUR 18 billion in aid to Ukraine. If the braking continues, the EU will have to think of new avenues for decision-making, because Ukraine needs the money in question alone to keep its state administration afloat.
Hungary has also not ratified Finland’s NATO membership, but the processing of the matter is moving to next year.