Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control overwhelmingly welcomed, in the evening of Monday 3 October, the proposal to impose financial penalties on Hungary under the ‘Rule of law’ regulation.
Budapest has presented 17 measures to avoid the proposal submitted to the EU Council aimed at depriving the country of €7.5 billion of EU funding under the cohesion policy (see EUROPE 13024/9).
The members of the committees stressed the heavy “responsibility” on the Commission’s shoulders: to assess, by mid-November, the quality of Hungary’s anti-corruption and public procurement measures to respect the Rule of law.
Credibility of the European project. Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, Finnish), rapporteur on the text in question, welcomed the triggering of this mechanism. He considered that the Commission’s assessment of how Hungary has implemented the corrective measures should be “irreproachable” and “transparent”. In his view, the credibility of the Commission and the European project is at stake.
It will be up to the EU Council to decide whether or not to take a decision, Mr Sarvamaa summarised. He, like others, stressed that citizens should not be under the impression that Hungary is emerging from this process unscathed.
The EU Commissioner for Budget, Johannes Hahn, reiterated that the Commission has until 19 November to assess the Hungarian measures, after which it will submit its assessment to the EU Council, which will decide by qualified majority on the basis of this assessment. Mr Hahn reiterated that this was not a sanctions mechanism, but a regulation to address identified problems with the Rule of law.
The other rapporteur, Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D, Spanish), said that without this mechanism and pressure from the European Parliament, there would not have been these 17 Hungarian measures. Hungary needs to get serious, she added. She stressed the need for procedures to monitor the country’s progress in respecting the Rule of law.
Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, German) was more critical, deploring the rather limited scope of the text. It should be avoided, she said, that this text could be circumvented by a country in order to escape any suspension of EU funds in case of violation of the principles of the Rule of law.
What matters are the results of the measurements, insisted Mr Hahn. If the measures are not implemented, the procedures could be launched again, this is not an isolated action, he said.
The Hungarian Parliament adopted, on Monday, a first package of legislative measures to remedy the shortcomings identified by the Commission. “We are not going to wait until mid-November, the work is ongoing”, concluded Mr Hahn.
Lara Wolters (S&D, Dutch) regretted that “there was a vagueness, a grey area”, due to the fact that the Commission is negotiating with Hungary. The Commission is the guardian of the treaties, it should not be a mediator, she said.
Bogdan Rzońca (ECR, Polish) railed against the “attacks” on Poland and Hungary. Yet Poland is an example of how to manage EU funds, he said.
Andor Deli (NI, Hungarian) denounced the “political circus” in the whole affair, while assuring that these 17 measures “will address the concerns” raised. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)