The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, recalled, on Monday 21 November, that it will be up to the Council of the European Union to take a decision - confirmation or abandonment of a possible financial sanction - in the context of the procedure against Hungary under the general conditionality mechanism for the protection of the EU budget (see EUROPE 13024/9).
“The final decision to adopt measures rests with the EU Council”, Mr Reynders said at the opening of the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg. And the Commission’s ongoing “analysis” of Hungary’s compliance with 17 specific commitments to remedy shortcomings in the Rule of law will support the Member States, which will have to decide by qualified majority, he added.
In front of MEPs, the Commissioner did not mention a precise deadline for the completion of this analysis. This is based on the information that the EU institution received this weekend from the Hungarian authorities on the implementation of the 17 commitments they have made to remedy the shortcomings observed.
The College of Commissioners could be seized of the matter on Wednesday 30 November to give the EU Council time to analyse the possible scenarios and decide, at the latest on 19 December. The Ecofin Council meeting on Tuesday 6 December is also an important step. The EU finance ministers are entitled to decide on the suspension of cohesion funds to Hungary and they could, on the same day, be seized of several dossiers - minimum taxation of multinationals, macrofinancial assistance to Ukraine for 2023 - currently held up by Viktor Orbán’s government.
Also commenting on the Hungarian recovery plan in the framework of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan, Mr Reynders said that commitments made under the ‘Rule of Law Conditionality’ regulation procedure will be included as milestones in the Hungarian recovery plan currently being negotiated with Budapest.
If the Hungarian plan is approved at European level, the concretisation of these milestones, which touch in particular on the national “judicial system”, according to Mr Reynders, will make it possible to release the first tranches of aid. If it is not by the end of 2022, Hungary faces a loss of 70% of the €5.8 billion allocated to it.
“We hope to conclude these discussions as soon as possible”, Mr Reynders said. And to recall that, whatever the procedure, the Commission’s ultimate objective is to protect the consumption of the EU budget in Hungary for good.
MEPs will adopt a specific resolution on Thursday. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)