Members of the European Parliament spent Wednesday afternoon grilling three Commissioners over what they described as a "background deal" with Viktor Orbán to release frozen EU funds. #EuropeNews
Commissioners Didier Reynders (Justice), Nicolas Schmit (Jobs) and Johannes Hahn (Budget) were questioned over the decision to unblock cash for Hungary, which the European Commission had previously paralysed over persistent rule-of-law concerns.
The main point of contention was the particular timing of the mid-December decision to release €10.2 billion in reaction to the judicial reform to decrease political interference that Budapest adopted,which was taken one day before a high-stakes summit of EU leaders.
Facing an onslaught of criticism, the three Commissioners stuck to the line that Hungary had provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate compliance with the four “super milestones,” which included measures to strengthen the National Judicial Council, a self-governing supervisory board, and crack down on political meddling inside the Supreme Court.
The trio reminded the room that, as of today, the Commission is still withholding nearly €12 billion from Hungary’s allocated share of cohesion funds and most of its €10.4-billion recovery and resilience plan, as Budapest has failed to meet the other milestones related to issues such as conflicts of interests, LGBTQ+ rights and academic freedom.
Dimitrios Papadimoulis, from the Left, criticised the Commission for creating the impression of “succumbing” to Orbán, who has repeatedly asked for the entire pot of cash to be unfrozen, and gaining nothing in return, given the €50-billion facility for Ukraine remains stuck in negotiations, despite Kyiv’s urgent need for support.
Reynders fought back, saying all the elements of the judicial reform had been thoroughly negotiated between Brussels and Budapest, meaning the Commission knew “very well” the content of the laws before their publication in the official journal.
The original article contains 819 words, the summary contains 263 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Commissioners Didier Reynders (Justice), Nicolas Schmit (Jobs) and Johannes Hahn (Budget) were questioned over the decision to unblock cash for Hungary, which the European Commission had previously paralysed over persistent rule-of-law concerns.
The main point of contention was the particular timing of the mid-December decision to release €10.2 billion in reaction to the judicial reform to decrease political interference that Budapest adopted,which was taken one day before a high-stakes summit of EU leaders.
Facing an onslaught of criticism, the three Commissioners stuck to the line that Hungary had provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate compliance with the four “super milestones,” which included measures to strengthen the National Judicial Council, a self-governing supervisory board, and crack down on political meddling inside the Supreme Court.
The trio reminded the room that, as of today, the Commission is still withholding nearly €12 billion from Hungary’s allocated share of cohesion funds and most of its €10.4-billion recovery and resilience plan, as Budapest has failed to meet the other milestones related to issues such as conflicts of interests, LGBTQ+ rights and academic freedom.
Dimitrios Papadimoulis, from the Left, criticised the Commission for creating the impression of “succumbing” to Orbán, who has repeatedly asked for the entire pot of cash to be unfrozen, and gaining nothing in return, given the €50-billion facility for Ukraine remains stuck in negotiations, despite Kyiv’s urgent need for support.
Reynders fought back, saying all the elements of the judicial reform had been thoroughly negotiated between Brussels and Budapest, meaning the Commission knew “very well” the content of the laws before their publication in the official journal.
The original article contains 819 words, the summary contains 263 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!