Insufficient measures against corruption: EU wants to freeze funds for Hungary

Created: 2022-12-13 07:04

Viktor Orban (archive image) © Georg Hochmuth/APA/dpa

Is it enough or not enough?

Until recently, it was unclear whether enough other countries besides Germany would vote for the freezing of EU funds for Hungary.

Now there is clarity.

Brussels - A large majority of EU countries have agreed in principle to freezing billions in payments from the European Community budget earmarked for Hungary.

Due to concerns that EU funds are being misappropriated in the country due to insufficient fight against corruption, 6.3 billion euros are to be blocked for the time being.

The current Czech EU Council Presidency provided information on the agreement, which is unprecedented in the history of the EU, on Tuesday night (December 13) after a meeting of the permanent representatives of the member states in Brussels.

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The sum of 6.3 billion euros is around 1.2 billion euros lower than proposed by the EU Commission and desired by countries like Germany.

However, the agreement is still considered a great success as Hungary is now under pressure to undertake further reforms to improve the rule of law.

The sum was reduced because several EU countries wanted to acknowledge that the right-wing government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban had already made efforts in this direction in recent weeks.

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A qualified majority is required for the final adoption of the hitherto unprecedented measure against an EU state - that means at least 15 of the 27 EU states must agree and together make up at least 65 percent of the total population of the EU.

This requirement has now been met and is to be formalized in a written procedure before the EU summit on Thursday (December 15).

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The traffic light coalition had already signaled its approval of tough action against Hungary in the past few days and spoke out in favor of freezing around 7.5 billion euros.

"This is about our values, about our rule of law as a European Union as a whole," said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) in Brussels.

As a Federal Republic, you support “the very good proposals of the EU Commission”.