Hungarian Conservative

Tibor Navracsics claims the Hungarian government has fulfilled all the criteria set by the EU Commission to access the funds, and could be receiving actual money transfers from Brussels as early as November.

Hungary supports all initiatives for maintaining dialogue aimed at de-escalating the conflict and finding a peaceful resolution, Minister Bóka told the French weekly Le Point in an interview, referring to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The French and German political elites have apparently grown tired of the never-ending debates about the present and future of the European Union, which are impeding the integration goals they wish to see, and now want to force them to an end. In some ways, this would also mean a break with the ‘Europa auf Augenhöhe’ (‘Europe at eye level’) policy that made the EU so attractive in the 1990s, and it is to be expected that the ‘problematic’ member states of Central and Eastern Europe will not let this pass without a fight.

In the autumn legislative package, the government will broaden the competencies of general practitioners, for example, they will regain prescription rights for certain medications that were previously taken away.

The Hungarian foreign minister announced that Budapest will not consent to further arms shipments to Ukraine as long as Kyiv fails to remove OTP Bank from its list of international war sponsors.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs stated at a press conference on Tuesday that Hungary will keep its promise of not holding up Sweden’s joining of NATO, thus it is ready to back it once Turkey is. However, a recent incident of Quran burning in Stockholm may set the process back for some time again.

The authority was established to protect the money of European Union taxpayers, making sure that it is spent appropriately and in a targeted fashion. However, their goal is more ambitious, aiming to initiate a kind of cultural change in the economy, where the parties involved can and want to say no to corruption challenges.

The total amount of EU funds approved by the Commission is €100 million, which is to be distributed among the five member states most affected by the glut of tariff-free Ukrainian grain dumps: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. These five nations banded together and imposed bans on food product imports from Ukraine back in April.

Tamás Deutsch, during a public radio interview, drew attention to the concerning fact that the EU has been sending billions of Euros in military aid to Ukraine despite its current budget having been approved in December 2020, over a year before the Russian invasion began. He also pointed out that the exact amount spent on aiding the Ukrainian war effort is not even known.

Highly respected experts, such as former Constitutional Court Justice István Stumpf, Gadi Taub, Senior Lecturer at the Federmann School of public policy from Israel, and James Allen of the University of Queensland in Australia, shared their views on the controversial concept of ‘rule of law’. Their lectures were followed by a discussion between State Secretary for European Affairs János Bóka and Ákos Bence Gát, head of foreign affairs at the Danube Institute.

‘Although the outcome is yet unknown, I think that any kind of ascent should start with the (re)construction of the infrastructure to connect the partners. After the completion of this task, we should think about declaring, promoting and following the basic values and principles shared by the Central European countries and nations. These principles will allow us to find a common language, free from the ‘progressive’ ideologies that characterise the West now.’

Navracsics reminded that Hungary is to receive 14 trillion Hungarian forints in cohesion funds for the 2021-2027 EU budget cycle. Of this amount, 4 trillion forints have already been received and are continuously being used for rural development.

About a week after the Committee on Budgetary Control officially rejected her renomination, the European Parliament reversed that decision and voted in favour of another six-year term for Gáll-Pelcz on the European Court of Auditors. However, on the same day, the EP also passed a resolution condemning Hungary.

While officially, the conference’s main agenda point was the shadow rapporteurs on the current state of the rule of law in Hungary, more time was devoted to Hungary’s Council of the EU presidency set to happen in 2024, a concept none of the MEPs was thrilled about. The ongoing negotiations about releasing the frozen EU funds were often talked about as well.

At the inauguration ceremony of a new wing of a school building in Mór, Fejér County, minister of state for Public Education Zoltán Maruzsa stated that ‘the schools of tomorrow cannot be the same as the schools of yesterday’.

‘We should not turn a blind eye to the EP representatives who seem to be out of line with their role. Repositioning the power of the EP is actually part of a wider phenomenon that tries to outsource political decision-making from the democratic frameworks of the Member States and thereby reduce the influence of voters on the fate of their own country.’

It can be clearly stated that over the past years, the current majority of the European Parliament has not shied away from using the tools provided to it by the treaties to assert its political will, and one of the results of its activism has been that the debate with the Commission on the rule of law in Hungary has shifted to a political-ideological level.

Environmental protection and sustainability have been integral to shaping Europe’s future for decades. The theme and policy framework of the green transition are among the most prominent programmes of the European Commission’s activities, and they have not been overshadowed by the pandemic or the Russo-Ukrainian war, Minister for Regional Development Tibor Navracsics said at the GreenTech exhibition and conference in Zalaegerszeg.

At his recent hearing in the EP, the Budget Commissioner stated that it is not true that the Commission is hindering negotiations with the Hungarian government over the rule of law concerns. The Commission is interested in finding a solution, but it must be a solution that serves the interests of Hungarian citizens, Hahn said.

State Secretary for European Affairs János Bóka is confident that about one-third, €13 billion, of the withheld EU funds will be received by Hungary by 2027. The London-based Financial Times, in a piece covering the contentious negotiations, seems to agree with his assertion.

According to the minister, representatives presented the delegation with the regulations and fundamental aspects of the spending of EU funds, followed by questions from the committee members. However, Navracsics noted that it was apparent the delegation had not read the background materials sent to them in advance for more detailed information. Also, in some cases, the opinion of certain representatives was heavily influenced by political biases, resulting in occasional factual errors during their questioning.

In his interview with Richard Quest, Péter Szijjártó asked the rhetorical question: ‘Do you think all this would be possible if there were systemic corruption? Because if there is systemic corruption, there is no growth, investors do not come, and they do not bring their money here.’

After a five-and-a-half- year renovation, metro line M3 is to become fully operational on 22 May, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony announced on social media.

Monday’s negotiations were a very important milestone in building trust between the EU and Hungary, Judit Varga said, who added that she does not expect any new conditions from the European Commission regarding the Hungarian justice package.

It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the Court of Justice of the European Union created the principle of primacy of EU law from scratch. Although nowadays the mainstream considers this idea unchallengeable, the task of the constitutional courts is precisely to promote the development of a healthy balance by strengthening the principle of constitutional identity. By finding a balance, the tension between the legal systems of the Member States and EU law might also become reconcilable.

In the past decade, Hungary has been able to reach the EU average in several respects in the fields of oncology, states Prof. Csaba Polgár, Director General of the National Institute of Oncology. An interview about ‘devastating’ OECD statistics, the Hungarian cancer strategy and the suspended EU funds.

Hungary’s commitments under the new rule of law framework should serve as a model for the whole EU, states State Secretary János Bóka. An interview about the so-called rule of law debate, the growing political pressure of the European Parliament and the Hungarian Child Protection Act.

The payment of EU funds allocated to Hungary in the 2021–2027 budget cycle was suspended in December 2022. The suspension, however, does not mean a loss of resources. In other words, the path is clear for Hungary: defying the political headwind, it can set a model for the EU as a whole, as to how its financial interests can be protected by means of the rule of law.

Gergely Gulyás stated that the government believes that it is necessary to prepare for a protracted war and that economic difficulties persist due to the sanctions. He added that Hungary’s position is clear: Hungary condemns Russian aggression and provides humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

Péter Szijjártó expressed hope that members of the European and transatlantic community would adopt the Hungarian stance, adding that currently, on this hemisphere, war rhetoric is much louder and stronger than peace rhetoric.