For Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, it is a victory. While the European Commission decided, a year ago, to temporarily deprive Budapest of some 28 billion euros of community funds due to its abuses in terms of the rule of law, it was to announce, Wednesday December 13, the release of a tranche of ten billion euros.
In recent months, the nationalist leader has worked to strengthen the independence of justice and the fight against corruption, argues the community executive to justify his decision. In May, Hungary indeed adopted a reform of its judicial system which plans to finally give the Judicial Council, responsible for appointing judges, the budget and the powers which will allow it, in theory, to exercise its mission in complete independence.
This reform is, however, considered insufficient by certain magistrates such as Anna Madarasi, spokesperson for the judges’ association Res Iudicata. “Court presidents can always be elected to the Judicial Council, she underlines, even though they are appointed indirectly by the authorities in Hungary. These are small things, but they can compromise the image of independence. »
Above all, the release of funds occurs before the election of this new Judicial Council. Scheduled for January 8, 2024, this election will have a test value since it will allow us to see whether Hungarian magistrates truly succeed in freeing themselves from the influence of power, in a country where the Prime Minister’s direct entourage has become considerably enriched. in questionable conditions in recent years, with complete impunity.
“An unfortunate conjunction”
“Do we finally have in Hungary an anti-corruption system and a truly strengthened judicial system? The answer today is no, even if there has been progressbelieves Marta Pardavi, of the human rights NGO Helsinki Committee. The geopolitical blackmail technique apparently worked. » The money will indeed arrive at a time when Viktor Orban threatens to veto, during the European Council on December 14 and 15, the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and financial aid of 50 billion euros in kyiv.
Launched at the end of 2022, the unprecedented procedure which allowed the Commission to freeze Hungarian funds required a decision before December 15, that is to say before the second day of the meeting of European heads of state and government, we argue in Brussels. In this context, the community executive had no other choice but to speak out these days. “It is an unfortunate conjunction that the announcement of the release of funds was made just before the summit. The Commission waited too long, it should have released the Hungarian funds sooner”judges a European diplomat who, on the merits, defends the decision of the community executive.
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