The European Commission has given the green light this Wednesday to the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) of Hungary, worth 5,800 million euros, but has proposed suspending 7,500 million euros in cohesion policy funds.
The two decisions were announced by the community executive, which in a statement indicates that “today it presented Hungary with an evaluation under the conditionality procedure”, arguing that, “despite the measures taken, there is still a continuous risk for the budget of the EU, since the corrective measures that still have to be fulfilled are of a structural nature”.
For this reason, Brussels proposes to suspend 65% of the commitments of three operational programs in the framework of cohesion policy, for a value of 7,500 million eurosa process that had already begun in mid-September.
The European Union should tighten the rope on Hungary, which may lose 70% of cohesion funds
“The Commission concluded that the conditions for the application of the regulation are maintained and that other essential measures will be necessary to eliminate the remaining risks for the EU budget in Hungary”, justifies Brussels.
At the same time, the institution gave the green light to the Hungarian PRRwhose approval has been delayed for months, after having “ensured the inclusion of essential milestones on judicial independence and the protection of the EU budget”.
To access PRR funds, However, Budapest depends on the “full and effective implementation of the necessary milestones”, with 17 corrective measures at stake.along with other rule of law reforms related to judicial independence, for a total of 27 major milestones.
“This means that it will not be possible to make payments under the PRR until Hungary has fully and correctly implemented these 27 important milestones,” adds Brussels.
Orban. Blocking the recovery plan is a “brutal sabotage” of the European Union
Brussels maintains a long dispute with the Hungarian government of Viktor Órban, accused of violating the rule of law, that is, the independence of the judicial system and the media and of violating the rights of minorities and of not fighting corruption .
In mid-September, the community executive proposed the suspension of community funds to Hungary for violations of the rule of law, within the framework of cohesion policy.
Source: Observadora
