The European Commission is preparing to trigger against Budapest an unprecedented procedure which makes it possible to suspend the payment of European funds in case of violations of the rule of law.
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Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the Commission, is used to congratulate European heads of state or government when they win an election. The Nationalist Viktor Orban, which the Hungarians have largely renewed at the head of the executive Sunday, April 3, has, for the moment, did not have the right to this mark of attention. “These things are done when the government is confirmed by Parliament,” says the Commission. In the meantime, on Tuesday, at a Question Session in the European Parliament, the former Minister of Defense of Angela Merkel did not hesitate to declare the hostilities against Budapest.
The Commission, it has announced, is preparing to launch against Hungary an unprecedented procedure which makes it possible to suspend the payment of European funds in the event of violations of the rule of law. What earned him a salvo of applause within the Strasbourg hemicycle.
It must be said that the MEPs, just like their colleagues from the Commission or the European Council, did not appreciate the speech that Viktor Orban held on Sunday night after his re-election. “We will remember this victory until the end of our lives, because we had to fight against a large number of adversaries,” he said, citing “the Hungarian and international left”, the ” Bureaucrats “from Brussels, the international media,” and the Ukrainian president also “.
Budapest denounces an” error “
The European Commissioner in Budget, Johannes Hahn, “said today with the Hungarian authorities and informed them that we would now send the letter of formal notice to activate the mechanism”, opening a procedure that should last Between six and nine months, detailed Ursula von der Leyen. The contents of the missive is not yet known, but in a previous letter sent in November 2021 to Budapest, the Commission expressed concerns about public procurement problems, conflicts of interest and corruption.
Gergely Gulayas, the Chief of Cabinet de Viktor Orban, did not wait to react, calling “mistake” the decision of Brussels. Before asking “the European Commission not to punish the Hungarian voters for not having expressed an opinion on the taste of Brussels during the elections” from Sunday “
Effective since 1 January 2021, this mechanism has never been used, despite the repeated pressures of the European Parliament. The twenty-seven had indeed agreed to wait until the Court of Justice of the European Union, that Budapest and Warsaw seized on this subject, confirms its legality. What was done on February 16th. The Commission was then ready to activate the mechanism against two countries: Poland, which does not guarantee the independence of justice, and Hungary, where the fight against corruption is largely insufficient.
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