The European Commission lifted the block this Wednesday, on the eve of a meeting of European leaders that is important for the future of the EU. Ukrainein total 10.2 billion euros blocked compliance funds He was sent to Hungary a year ago due to the authoritarian course of the country.. Brussels said it had received “sufficient guarantees” and that the government it leads Viktor Orban With the judicial reform adopted on Tuesday, the “deficiencies” of judicial independence were corrected.
“We have worked intensively, in close contact with our Hungarian counterparts, to ensure that judicial reforms fully meet the requirements we agreed upon. I am pleased to announce today that we have achieved this goal,” the Justice Commissioner said in a long-awaited statement. said. expression. Didier Reynders. “We have received sufficient guarantees to say that the independence of the judiciary in Hungary will be strengthened.” “In case of any setback, we will react as soon as possible,” he warned.
Among the measures introduced by Budapest Strengthening the independence of the judiciary These include strengthening the powers of the National Judicial Council, limiting undue influence and discretionary decisions, and ensuring more objective and transparent administration of the courts. The Hungarian Government has also taken measures to reform the functioning of the Supreme Court in order to limit the risks of political influence. In addition, the role of the Constitutional Court to review final decisions of judges upon the request of public authorities was eliminated, as well as the possibility of the Supreme Court to review matters that judges planned to refer to the Court of Justice of the EU.
24 hours before the summit
The decision came hours before the process started The European Council will decide whether to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and whether to approve new funds for Kiev. Two decisions that Orbán opposes and even puts forward as the reason for the current corruption in the country that Russia has occupied for almost two years. Despite the timeliness of the decision in Brussels, they deny any connection and insist that it was a “technical” decision, not a political one, and that it happened because Budapest met the conditions for the release of the fund.
In fact, the European Commission, as announced in its statement, will block the remainder of the funds allocated to Hungary: in total approx. 21,000 million euros. The Orbán Government has not resolved doubts on issues related to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. In particular, the so-called Hungarian child protection law regarding risks to academic freedom and the right to asylum. “Until these concerns are addressed, the horizontal activation requirement will not be satisfied and the Commission will not be able to cover the associated costs under the various programs.” they underline.