The European Commission notably accuses Hungary of “irregularities” and “shortcomings” in the procedures for awarding public contracts. “There is a very small number of bidders in public procurement. In almost two-thirds of the cases, there was only one bidder. In the other countries, it is below 30%“explains the European Commissioner responsible for the budget, Johannes Hahn. Added to this are conflicts of interest and insufficient control procedures.
The 7.5 billion euros likely to be frozen represents a third of the funds granted to Hungary between 2021 and 2027.”We have criticized breaches of the rule of law. This means that the answer must be extremely respectful of the principle of proportionality” justified himself Johannes Hahn, EU Budget Commissioner.
In the meantime, the €7.5 billion freeze must now be approved by the Member States, by qualified majority (15 Member States). They have one month to do so and a two-month extension is possible.
The European Commission is counting on this extension. It seems to want to give Hungary time to implement its reforms. The country promised to keep the Commission informed of its efforts by November 19. The commission will then re-evaluate the situation and ask the Member States, or not, to adopt its proposal to freeze part of the European funds.
We should also note that Hungary is trying to release another budget, that of the post-Covid recovery plan. It represents 5.8 billion in subsidies. Hungary is the only country in the European Union that still does not have the green light from the European Commission, still for the same reasons.