EU and Hungary: Check handover has to wait

Hungary applied for corona reconstruction aid from the EU early on. But the commission canceled the payment date. The reason: application reviews – or rather Orban’s planned LGBTQ law. Is Brussels serious now?

It is an egg dance for Hungarians for money. The country is actually supposed to receive almost seven billion euros in grants from the European Corona development fund, the so-called “Next Generation EU” program. And actually the symbolic check handover should have already taken place. But the date for this week has been canceled by the EU Commission. Now the question is: what will happen next with Hungary and the money from Brussels?

Since the more or less open scandal at the most recent EU summit over the highly controversial Hungarian law, which is supposed to prohibit the representation of homosexual partnerships, transgender and intersex people as equal to hetero couples and cisgender people, it has been clear: The European Union can and no longer wants to just watch Viktor Orban’s course more or less helplessly. The accusation towards Budapest is clear: the law would equate homosexuality and pedophilia, disregard the right to sexual self-determination, and discriminate against transgender people.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen himself spoke of a shame. The Dutchman Mark Rutte or Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander de Croo went on a confrontational course with Orban, none of the 26 other EU heads of state and government openly supported him.

Horrible picture of a Brussels super-state

The question of how to get Orban to respect at least the fundamental values ​​of the EU is now all the more pressing. So far, Brussels has been unsuccessful – and has been for a long time. Various infringement proceedings, threats or the so-called European rule of law mechanism that has been in place for a few months have not impressed the Hungarian Prime Minister, who has been considered a cross-driver in Europe for years. He has repeatedly curtailed the freedom of the press and research in his country and claims to have put the EU in its place. Many remember Orban’s personal anti-EU campaigns against the former head of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, or against the investor George Soros, who survived the Holocaust in Hungary as a child.

Orban cultivates the horrific image of a Brussels super-state that should be imposed on the Hungarians. The country is one of the European states that particularly benefit from EU money. Also from the money from the “Next Generation” fund. But the Hungarian homosexual law was apparently a red line for the EU. The Commission had realized that in view of this, Orban could not simply pay out the promised billions from the Corona pot, it said in Brussels; certainly not symbolically presented by a smiling Commission President who invokes cohesion in the EU.

But simply canceling Hungary’s money – that doesn’t work either. In the end, all 27 European member states have agreed on the bailout package, worth almost 800 billion euros, for which they are taking on large-scale debts for the first time in EU history. And they have also agreed on the terms and conditions for payments from the fund. They should be invested in future projects: climate protection, digitization, better government structures. Every EU country has to explain to the Commission how it intends to spend European money.

Hungary’s application is still being examined, it is said

This now seems to be the lever that Brussels wants to use here: the Hungarian plan is still in the review stage, according to the Commission. It has been doing this for a long time, however, because Hungary was one of the first EU countries to submit its development plan. The commission officially has two months to complete the examination. The deadline is July 12th. It’s not long anymore. Most of the other EU countries have long since received the green light from Brussels for their intended corona investments. There were no fundamental changes.

So far, it has not revealed what exactly the Commission wants to criticize about the Hungarian projects. In any case, EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentilloni has to visibly search for words at a press conference when asked when will we find out more details and what the Commission intends to do? After all, Gentilloni did not want to talk about Hungary, but about the good economic prospects for the EU – which are of course also so good because there is the European Corona fund and the many billions from it. If they really do flow.

Very few expect that the EU Commission will actually block the money for Hungary in the end. After all, the member states must also give their approval after the commission has examined the development plans. EU parliamentarians who are familiar with the matter, such as MP Damian Böselager from the Volt party, therefore tend to assume that Hungary will get clear conditions from Brussels. Possibly clearer than is the case with other EU countries. It is about finally showing Orban a limit.

According to legal experts, the EU could cut funds

A study commissioned by the Greens in the European Parliament from international legal experts comes to the conclusion that the European Union could quickly and easily cut financial resources in Budapest. Because in Hungary there is a lack of transparency about how and for what transfers from Brussels are used.

In addition to the money from the Corona Fund, this could be another starting point for the EU to put Hungary under financial pressure and to get Orban to give in. Because the European rule of law mechanism provides that payments from Brussels to the member states can be capped if they cause damage to the EU budget: for example, if money flows into dark channels or if corruption is involved. These are also accusations that are being raised again and again towards Hungary.

In any case, the EU Parliament has clearly and unequivocally asked the Commission to act. And von der Leyen wants to take concrete steps on the way by autumn at the latest. With a view to the Corona fund and the billions from it, that will be too late. It is therefore quite possible, according to speculation in Brussels, that there could be something like a first showdown in the coming week. So far, however, with an open end.