Back in December last year, the European Commission approved the release of €10.2 billion of the withheld cohesion funds to Hungary. Evidently, the decision has not sat well with the liberal faction of the European Parliament, who have been staunch opponents of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary for long.
Former Belgian Prime Minister and current MEP Guy Verhofstadt even stated on X (seemingly, the favourite place to vent for the left-wing activists of the EU) that he is withdrawing his support for EC President Ursula von der Leyen over this decision alone.
However, the liberal wing of the EP is willing to take the matter even further.
According to another post also on X, made by German MEP Daniel Freund, a last-minute amendment has been added to a resolution up for a vote on the EP floor on Thursday, 18 January.
According to this amendment, the Parliament ‘instructs its Committee on Legal Affairs to take the necessary steps as soon as possible, in relation to the Commission’s decision leading to the unfreezing of 10.2 billion EUR, including the legal service analysis in accordance with Rule 149, with a view to review the legality of the decision C(2023) 9014 before the Court of Justice’.
In other words, the European Parliament is letting everyone know that it is willing, or at least willing to consider, suing the Commission in front of the EU Court of Justice if the €10.2 billion is in fact released to Hungary. Furthermore, the amendment of the resolution also stipulates that the EP has the option ‘to use any legal and political measures at its disposal’ to retaliate in such a case.
Most likely, the leftist authors of this late amendment to the resolution hope that its passing itself will be enough of a deterrent for the Commission to reverse its decision and continue to withhold Hungary its due funding.
They also outright reject the EC’s assessment of Hungary meeting certain criteria in justice reforms, thus prioritizing their own judgement on the matter over the Commission’s.
Meanwhile, the EU already wired €779.5 million to Hungary, which is now part of the national budget, back in late December. However, that payment is part of the Union’s REPowerEU programme, unrelated to the withheld EU cohesion and COVID recovery funds the EP is apparently willing to sue the Commission for if released.
Other Attacks on Hungary From Strasbourg
Blocking the release of the due EU funds is not the only wave of attack Hungary has to fight off from the European Parliament.
The leftist MEPs are also trying to prevent the country from assuming its role in the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
A resolution opposing the Hungarian presidency was passed in June 2023.
Hungary’s voting right in the EU Council is also under siege by the leftist activists in Strasbourg. The most fervent of them are calling for an Article 7 procedure to start against the Hungarian government over ‘rule of law concerns’, with the ultimate goal of not allowing the country to exercise its voting rights within the Union.
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