Fidesz MEP: 'If Brussels's corruption charges were true, Hungary had no continued economic growth'
EC to activate rule-of-law mechanism against Hungary
Vera Jourova, the Vice-President for Values and Transparency, said on Twitter that the conditionality mechanism will be activated by the letter. “We identified issues that might be breaching [the rule of law] in HU and affect the EU budget,” she said. Hungary will need to address the EC’s concerns and make proposals to remedy the problems, she added.
Jourova said the EC decision was in line with an earlier ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU, under which the commission needs to prove a link between the rule of law and the impact of deficiencies on the European budget. Suspension of payments to Hungary could arise from deficiencies in the national anti-corruption strategy and could impact a large part of EU funding, including cohesion and agricultural funds.
Hahn said on Twitter that under its obligation to protect the European budget, the commission would scrutinise each member state within the auspices of the mechanism.
Fidesz MEP: ‘If Brussels’s corruption charges were true, Hungary had no continued economic growth’
If the EU’s charges of corruption against Hungary were true, the country’s economic growth would not have been continuous for several years, a European lawmaker of ruling Fidesz said in a roundtable discussion on French television on Wednesday.
Corruption charges against Hungary are yet another example of Brussels using an important issue such as graft and an important ideal such as the rule of law to blackmail a conservative, Christian Democratic government, Balazs Hidveghi said in the La faute a l’Europe? programme.
Hungary, similarly to France, prosecutes 67 percent of cases forwarded to it by the European Union’s anti-fraud office OLAF compared with the EU average of 37 percent, Hidveghi said, noting that the ratio in neighbouring Austria is 25 percent. “It goes to show that the EU has no solid point of reference to present when implying corruption”.
Brussels is unable to accept the sovereign decision of the Hungarian people which has been shown clearly by ruling Fidesz’s winning this year’s general election in a landslide for the fourth time in a row.
It shows the success of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s policy and a rejection of accusations and political pressure exerted by Brussels.