“With Hungary, we made it very clear, the problem is corruption.”
(Photo: dpa)
Strasbourg Hungary is the first country to face EU funding cuts over possible rule of law violations. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg that her authority would take the first step in the so-called rule of law mechanism. The EU Commission informed the Hungarian authorities about this on Tuesday.
“In Hungary, we made it very clear, the problem is corruption,” von der Leyen said. It is currently not possible to find a common denominator. Von der Leyen received applause for her announcement in Parliament. In order for Hungary to actually have EU funds cut, the final step still requires the approval of at least 15 of the EU states with 65 percent of the EU population. Before that, Budapest has several opportunities to comment on the allegations.
The so-called EU rule of law mechanism has been in force since the beginning of 2021. Its purpose is to ensure that violations of the rule of law, such as the separation of powers, no longer go unpunished if they threaten to misuse EU funds.
Poland and Hungary saw themselves as being particularly in the focus of the instrument and therefore complained to the European Court of Justice. However, he dismissed the lawsuits in February. Both states get billions from the common budget every year.
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However, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban should feel encouraged in his course. His right-wing nationalist Fidesz party clearly won the parliamentary elections on Sunday. She received 53 percent of the votes and thus secured a constitution-amending two-thirds majority in parliament for the fourth time in a row.
The European Parliament has been putting pressure on the EU Commission to trigger the rule of law mechanism for a long time. However, the authority always emphasized that it wanted to wait for the ECJ ruling. As a result, no case was lost, said von der Leyen on Tuesday. Parliament even sued the EU Commission before the ECJ for its hesitancy – the proceedings are still ongoing.
MEPs support the move
Accordingly, MEPs welcomed von der Leyen’s announcement on Tuesday. “It is absolutely right that Ursula von der Leyen is introducing sanctions for the Orban government’s massive violations of the rule of law,” said Green MP Daniel Freund. At the same time, however, he complained: “It could be too late for Hungary’s democracy.” The EU Commission missed the right time for consistent action against Orban by years.
The FDP MP Moritz Körner spoke of “good news for democracy in Europe”. “However, the late activation also has a stale aftertaste.” With the late decision, von der Leyen gave Prime Minister Orban four more years in office. He could now continue the “demolition of Hungarian democracy”.
More: Why Viktor Orban is weakened despite his election victory