Mission accomplished, commitments fulfilled, all questions answered - Judit Varga informed.

Hungary's judicial reform has remedied the shortcomings of the independence of the judiciary, which means that part of the cohesion political funding can be undone, and Hungary can claim up to 10.2 billion euros in compensation, the European Commission said in Brussels on Wednesday.

The EU's executive body announced: Hungary has taken the measures it undertook, and for this reason the committee considered that the expectations set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union are met with regard to judicial independence.

"Hungary has adopted legislation that significantly strengthens the independence of the judiciary in the country. This reform corresponds to the commitments made in Hungary's recovery plan," said the EC's statement, adding that the member states must ensure that the prerequisites are met during the entire duration of the cohesion policy. If at any time the board deems that the necessary prerequisites are no longer met, it can again decide to block funding.

This was teamwork - the Fidesz president of the Parliament's European affairs committee wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday regarding the EC's decision.

Mission accomplished, commitments fulfilled, all questions answered - Judit Varga informed.

"Even the European Commission is forced to admit that Hungary has fulfilled the commitments included in the justice package in an exemplary manner. The milestones related to the administration of justice are extremely important elements of the agreement with Brussels, the negotiation and implementation of which Hungary had to go through with the greatest international headwinds and media noise," emphasized the Fidesz politician.

He drew attention to the fact that by "checking off" the justice package, Hungary can access a significant amount of EU funds, which have long been rightfully due to the Hungarian people.

Judit Varga congratulated János Bóka, the minister responsible for European Union affairs, "for this extraordinary result, which testifies not only to the preparedness of the Hungarian government, but also to the incredible determination and perseverance of the Hungarian people."

We also thank the judges and court leaders for their cooperation - Judit Varga concluded her post.

The EU committee maintains the measures related to budgetary conditionality, because Hungary did not deal with the issue of violating the principles of the rule of law. This means that the three cohesion policy programs with a total budget of 6.3 billion euros will remain suspended.

Regarding the resources to help economic recovery after the coronavirus epidemic, the European Commission announced that Hungary has committed itself to the fulfillment of 27 super milestones in order to ensure the protection of the financial interests of the Union and to strengthen the independence of the judiciary.

The plan includes four super-milestones related to the independence of the judiciary, which, based on the above, correspond to the measures requested from Hungary, as well as 21 super-milestones that correspond to the corrective measures according to the budgetary conditionality mechanism. However, given that Hungary has not yet fully met the super milestones, it is currently not possible to approve the payment request for the full amount.

The funding blocked for Hungary totals around 21 billion euros.

Facebook
MTI

Cover photo: János Bóka, minister responsible for European Union affairs, Judit Varga, former justice minister, currently chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Parliament, and Bence Tuzson, justice minister
Source: Facebook/Judit Varga