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Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Brussels (2020)
Photo: Ludovic Marin/ AP
According to the will of the European Parliament, the European Union (EU) should freeze several billion subsidies for Hungary due to deficiencies in the rule of law.
The EU Parliament announced that the measures proposed by Budapest for a better rule of law are not sufficient to address existing systematic risks.
A majority of MPs had previously approved a corresponding resolution.
"Viktor Orbán is destroying the Hungarian rule of law, Putin courts, has EU funds paid out to friends," said FDP MEP Moritz Körner.
The rule of law cannot be achieved with the Hungarian prime minister.
Körner's Green colleague Daniel Freund said: "It's high time that Viktor Orbán finally got the acknowledgment from Brussels for his authoritarian course."
The promises made by the Orbán government are not being kept.
It is becoming apparent, however, that the EU Commission is moving in the direction of the European Parliament.
It is now up to the EU states to freeze EU funds for Hungary so that they are not “misused to destroy democracy”.
A spokeswoman for the EU Commission said a decision might be made next week.
The college of EU commissioners is expected to discuss Hungary's promises on Wednesday.
However, it is considered unlikely that there will still be a positive result.
Hungary can no longer improve either, the deadline ended on November 19th.
In the event of a clear vote by the Commission, the Council of EU finance ministers on December 6th could still decide on sanctions against Hungary.
Experts from the EU Commission not convinced by the measures
As the SPIEGEL reported on Tuesday, experts from the EU Commission consider the 17 measures proposed by Hungary to be insufficient to end the procedure initiated to freeze funds.
It should be proposed to the EU states to withhold around 7.5 billion euros from the community budget, as originally planned.
The EU Commission proposed this in September because of corruption and other violations of the rule of law in Hungary.
Budapest then agreed to take remedial action to stop the process.
Among other things, the establishment of a new Office for Integrity was decided, which should uncover and prevent the misuse of EU funds.
Should the EU withhold the money intended for Hungary, this would have serious consequences for the country.
The Orbán government is urgently dependent on the billions from Brussels.
Hungary's economy collapsed as a result of the Ukraine war.
The billions in aid that Orbán is using to curb oil and gas prices are a drain on the state coffers.
Due to massive inflation, the central bank has increased interest rates to over 17 percent in order to stop the forint from falling.
Even national bankruptcy is no longer ruled out if the money from Brussels fails to materialize.
Hungary is the test case for an instrument introduced at the beginning of the year with the unwieldy name "conditionality mechanism", also known as the "rule of law mechanism".
This means that the EU can withdraw billions in funding from a member country that violates fundamental rights if funds are misused.
In the case of Hungary, the EU Commission initiated such proceedings against a member state for the first time in April.
col/dpa/AFP