Hungary creates anti-corruption agency to keep EU funding

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a decree establishing an anti-corruption agency, informed Bloomberg citing a published document. The need to create a structure was dictated by the launch in April of a “rule of law mechanism” against the country, which could affect funding from EU funds.

According to the publication, the decision to create such an agency will give the Hungarian government access to EU funds, which provide support for the country in the amount of 5.8 billion euros. The decision on whether to recommend a reduction in funding to Hungary in connection with the application of the “rule of law mechanism” is to be taken by the European Commission in September.

The created agency will prevent bribery, conflicts of interest and other violations related to the management of EU funds.

How clarifies newspaper Nepszava, the anti-corruption body can start working by November 21, 2022. Also, by December 1, a working group on combating corruption will be created, which will include representatives of state and non-state structures on a parity basis.

In addition, the Orban Cabinet instructed the Minister of Land Management Tibor Navraksis to create a system for assessing the effectiveness and profitability of public procurement. In particular, the European Commission was concerned about the situation when the share of public procurement with one participant exceeded 15% of the total. The publication notes that the legitimacy of the claims of the EC was previously recognized by the representative of the government, Gergely Gulyash.

April 3 newspaper Magyar Hang reportedthat the European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, Johannes Hahn, sent an official notice to the Hungarian government about the launch of a “rule of law mechanism” to protect EU funds allocated to the country.

The “rule of law mechanism” is a procedure in which financial measures can be applied to an EU member state if the European Commission determines that the funds of the Union funds are being misused. As financial measures, the violating state may be deprived of subsidies, reduced payments, etc. It was noted that the European Commission has objections to the situation in Hungary in the areas of public procurement, execution of European budgets, audits, monitoring, settlement procedures, prevention of fraud and corruption.