Ursula von der Leyen was urged to suspend EU funding to Hungary in order to force Viktor Orbán to resolve concerns about politicized courts and corruption.
Member of the European Parliament working in the European Parliament’s Budget Control Committee called for European Commission The President used the newly enacted EU law to freeze payments to Hungary that “seriously violated the rule of law”.
This is the latest attack on the Hungarian prime minister, who received unprecedented criticism from other EU leaders last month for a law banning the depiction of homosexuals in educational materials.The European Parliament is expected to condemn the law in a resolution on Thursday Hungary Excessive discrimination against LGBT people.
Long before the Hungarian Parliament Controversial LGBT laws passed, EU member states and members of the European Parliament are shocked by this Hungary’s expenditure on EU funds, Including the street light contract awarded to Orban’s son-in-law, and the old-fashioned train to Orban’s hometown.
Members of the European Parliament used the reports of three academics as the basis. They concluded that a “serious violation of the rule of law” means that EU executives have legal reasons to suspend payments to Hungary in order to protect EU taxpayers.
“The lack of transparent management of EU funds, the lack of effective national prosecutors, and the lack of judicial independence guarantees show that Hungary has seriously violated the basic principles of the rule of law,” the report drafted by the three professors pointed out. EU law and politics.
The report highlights the laboratories in 43 schools, each with a cost of 1 million Euros (£850,000), partly funded by the European Social Fund. An investigation by the European Commission found that each classroom is charged separately for the development of textbooks, even if everyone uses the same book. After coming to the conclusion that the Hungarian authorities did not correct some of the “irregulations” of expenditures, Brussels demanded that some money be repaid.
“What we want is for the rule of law to work in Hungary, not because we have sanctions superstition,” said Daniel Freund, a member of the German Ministry of Environmental Protection who commissioned the report. “We basically want to rebuild the rule of law.”
Members of the European Parliament did not recommend freezing a specific amount of funds-Hungary received 6.3 billion euros from the EU in 2018, which is equivalent to nearly 5% of its economy. The Hungarian government has asked the EU’s Coronavirus Recovery Fund to provide another 7.2 billion euros.
Freund said that the European Commission decides which EU payments to freeze. “It should not be ordinary Hungarian citizens who are affected by this. It should punish the government, so the committee must determine the correct budget line,” said a member of the European Parliament, acknowledging that the decision was not easy.
He said: “I think the committee must explain to everyone else why billions of dollars in taxpayer funds flow to Hungary when there is no effective management and control system.”
Any attempt to stop payments to EU countries through democratic checks and balances will become a test case of “conditional” supervision of the EU’s rule of law. The Hungarian government is challenging the law in the European Court of Justice, which has raised concerns that the commission may be reluctant to take action.
A spokesperson for the European Commission said: “The regulation came into effect on January 1, 2021. Since the first day, the Commission has been monitoring possible violations of the rule of law related to the regulation.”
Orbán was named this week “Press Freedom Predator” Reporters Without Borders.
