One billion euros of frozen European funds intended for Hungary were definitively lost on 1 January. The Member State had two years, until the end of 2024, to introduce reforms in the fight against corruption and conflicts of interest, after being accused by the EU of violating the Rule of law.
The EU Council triggered the conditionality mechanism in December 2022. 55% of budgetary commitments for three cohesion policy programmes were suspended, corresponding to a total of €6.4 billion.
The first tranche of €1.04 billion in frozen funds is therefore lost. Similarly, a second tranche relating to 2023 commitments will be lost at the end of 2025, the European Commission explained to Agence Europe. Pending guarantees given to the EU, the funds remain frozen. The various procedures concern the following areas: public procurement, action by public prosecutors, conflicts of interest, the fight against corruption and public interest trusts.
On 16 December, the European Commission found that “Hungary has not sufficiently addressed the breaches of the principles of the Rule of law” (see EUROPE 13546/16).
Furthermore, a change to a law aimed at preventing senior politicians from sitting on university boards prevented Hungary from restoring Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe funds in December (see EUROPE 13537/20).
According to Hungarian Minister for European Affairs János Bóka, ‘Rule of law conditionality’ is being used as a “tool for political pressure”. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)