Hungary could unlock about €13 billion ($14.4 billion) of funds frozen by the European Union after reaching a preliminary deal on key judicial reforms, according to the bloc’s budget commissioner.
(Bloomberg) — Hungary could unlock about €13 billion ($14.4 billion) of funds frozen by the European Union after reaching a preliminary deal on key judicial reforms, according to the bloc’s budget commissioner.
The money is part of a €21.5 billion package of cohesion funds currently blocked by the EU over concerns related to the independence of judges and the country’s failure to comply with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on issues including LGBTQ rights, academic freedom and asylum.
“If the judiciary independence case is settled, it unlocks the huge majority of the cohesion programs,” Johannes Hahn said in an interview at the European Commission in Brussels on Thursday. Hungary would need to adopt additional remedial issues to unlock the rest of the funds.
EU officials reached a technical agreement this week with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government on amendments to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. The European Commission still needs to give its political blessing to the Hungarian law once it’s approved by the country’s parliament, which is expected to happen in the coming weeks.
Hahn said he has “no doubts” about the agreement reached between commission officials and Budapest, and added that other EU commissioners have been involved in the discussions.
The dispute over the judicial reform is part of the EU’s long-standing concerns about the erosion of democratic institutions in Hungary, including media freedom and the independence of universities in the country.
Hahn will meet with Orban in Budapest on Tuesday, when he is expected to raise these topics. He is visiting the country as part of his tour around the 27 member states to discuss the review of the long-term budget, which is due in summer.
Erasmus Threat
One of the most urgent issues for Hahn is Hungary’s public trust foundations that manage its universities and is run by ministers. Hahn warned that if Budapest doesn’t submit changes by early May to address the conflict of interest surrounding these foundations, it could lose access to Erasmus from the next academic year. The program supports education, training, youth and sports in the bloc.
“I can only urge the Hungarian government to deliver, because its about young people and their future, and there is a responsibility for the government,” Hahn said. “Everything has been discussed in numerous meetings at technical and ministerial level so I wonder why this can’t be done.”
As part of this week’s tentative deal with Brussels, Hungary committed to reinforcing the powers of the judge-led National Judicial Council, including its ability to give binding opinions on some decisions and in electing a Supreme Court president.
Budapest will also introduce an automatic case allocation system at the Supreme Court to limit the risk of political influence, remove all obstacles for judges to refer questions to the European Court of Justice and limit the scope of authorities to submit complaints to the constitutional court.
The judiciary reforms are part of a package of 27 demands — so-called super-milestones imposed by Brussels to address the long-standing concerns. If Hungary can satisfy outstanding EU demands related to public procurement and corruption, it would unlock an additional €5.8 billion in grants from pandemic recovery funds.
“It is clear what they have to deliver — they can take a decision in the parliament next week,” Hahn said. “It’s really up to them.”
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