The European Parliament is preparing to challenge the EU Commission’s release of €10 billion in EU funds to Hungary before the European Court of Justice. Today, the negotiators of the five largest pro-European political groups in the European Parliament (Conservatives, Social Democrats, Liberals, Greens, Left) agreed on a resolution to this effect. The European Parliament is reacting to December’s Commission decision to consider parts of Hungary’s rule of law reforms as sufficient. The corresponding release of the frozen funds was announced just hours before the summit of EU heads of state and government. There is the well-founded suspicion that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had bought Hungary’s agreement to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, which Hungary’s prime minister had previously threatened to veto.

Daniel Freund, the Greens’ negotiator for the resolution, comments:

“The rule of law in Hungary is compromised. The Orban government’s reforms were completely insufficient. By releasing funds to Hungary, the EU Commission has caved in to Orban’s blackmail. This procedure severely violates the rule of law. The action against the EU Commission is the direct consequence of last December’s dirty deal. The signal to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is clear: she will not get away with simply handing out billions of euros to evade Hungary’s veto. The decision to release 10 billion euros to Hungary was political, not based on the supposed reforms in Hungary. Because the rule of law does not work in Hungary, the European Parliament is now launching this lawsuit.”