EU freezing Hungarian funds aimed at changing Budapest policies: Orban

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
3 Dec 2022 00:18
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The conditionality regime is a mechanism used to promote the rule of law and to withhold EU funding from states the Commission deems as "delinquent".

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday the European Commission is purposefully blocking funds allocated to Hungary to alter the country's policies on a number of issues, including migration and sanctions.

But Budapest has no intention of changing its positions, the Prime Minister stressed.

On September 18, the European Commission proposed to freeze 7.5 billion euros ($7.8 billion) meant for Hungary over allegations of Budapest violating rule-of-law, corruption, and curtailing judiciary and freedom of the press.

The European Union launched the rule-of-law mechanism earlier this year after accusing Budapest of abusing the unanimity vote.

On November 30, the Commission decided to keep freezing the funding for Hungary until Budapest fulfilled all its conditions.

The decision will now have to gain the approval of the Council of EU countries by a qualified majority.

Hungarian EU Affairs Minister Tibor Navracsics told reporters in Budapest on November 29, "We hope that even if the Commission will propose to the Council to prolong the suspension of the EU funds and controlling the implementation process that next year all the suspended EU funds can be at our disposal."

We find that Hungary has not progressed enough in its reforms and must meet essential milestones for its Recovery and Resilience funds.

This means that no payment under the RRF is possible until Hungary has fully and correctly implemented 27 super milestones.
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) November 30, 2022

"There is a historical trend according to which European bureaucrats want to extend their influence more and more to the member countries. And if they see an opportunity, they do so. Patience is needed here. Because, despite the procedure of conditionality in relation to Hungary, in the end we are still striving for an agreement. There are several main issues on which we cannot and do not want to change our position," Orban told the Kossuth radio broadcaster.

Orban added that Hungary had no plans of changing its migration policy, promoting "sexual propaganda in schools" and supporting sanctions against Russia, adding that Hungary and the EU contradict on several important issues.

"Therefore, they would not want a right-wing government at the last elections, they would like a left-wing one. That is why they did not give money to the country, instead they gave dollars to the left opposition so they could win the elections. That was the plan, but right-wing Hungary won the election. The European Commission has no choice but to negotiate. First, they put forward all sorts of conditions, some of which we found reasonable, while some were useless. But since we wanted to achieve a result, we could have also agreed on useless, in our opinion, issues and initiatives," Orban said.

Orban added that Hungary and the Commission have initially agreed on 17 of the milestones.

"We have fulfilled these 17 requirements, and the European Commission not only accepted them, but also said that Hungary's plan was one of the best in Europe... There are already 19th and 20th requirements of the European Commission. Anyone who is familiar with the European Union and European institutions knows for sure that they always have new ideas," the Prime Minister said.

The conditionality regime is a mechanism used to promote the rule of law and to withhold EU funding from states the Commission deems as "delinquent".

Hungary is the first country to face proceedings under the tool over law violations.

Hungary was the only country in the EU to refuse to support Brussels' initiative to train the Ukrainian army in Europe, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in October, highlighting that his country would not participate in the EU's training of Kiev's soldiers.

The country is the only European Union member state to take such a stance, with its Foreign Minister explaining Budapest's position by underlining that it supported peace efforts rather than escalation.

It has been staunchly opposed to the European Union's policies against Russian since the onset of the Ukraine war, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban refusing to impose sanctions on Russia the way the rest of the bloc has, in addition to various other anti-Russian measures.