Even Hungary's chief EU negotiator does not see light at the end of the tunnel

Regarding the law on the protection of sovereignty, Tibor Navracsics said that other countries also have laws to limit external interference in elections and domestic politics. The new law, adopted in mid-December, introduces a three-year prison sentence for election candidates who receive unauthorised financial support from abroad. 

The legislation establishes the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty, which is tasked with investigating organisations that use foreign funding to influence political discourse, conducting investigations and cooperating with state authorities, including the security services.

The U.S. State Department said on 20 December 2023 that "the United States is concerned by the Hungarian government’s decision today to enact a new law which

equips the Hungarian government with draconian tools that can be used to intimidate and punish those with views not shared by the ruling party.

The ruling Fidesz party says the law will defend against undue political interference by foreign persons or groups. Washington claims, though, that "the “Sovereign Defense Authority” could be used

to subject Hungarian citizens, businesses, and organizations to intrusive investigations with no judicial oversight,

even if they have had no contact with or support from a foreign government or foreign entity." 

Navracsics does not expect this issue to have a bearing on the rule of law procedure against Hungary and the EU funds it was denied access to.

Although the European Commission announced in mid-December that only part of the €10.2 billion would be released, Navracsics hopes that the blocking of the remaining cohesion fund resources, which he believes Hungary is entitled to, will be lifted soon.

"As for the recovery [and resilience[ fund, we have just received the first advance. We are confident that after that, cohesion funds will continue to flow into the projects," the politician added.

However, the situation regarding the participation of Hungarian universities in the Erasmus and Horizon Europe programmes seems to be a stalemate at the moment, according to Tibor Navracsics. The European Commission expressed reservations about the conflict of interest rules for Hungarian public universities at the end of 2022. On the ongoing negotiations with the European Commission on the matter, he said that

unfortunately, they are stalled.

"We are still waiting for the European Commission's response to our latest position, which we have submitted in writing. It seems to me that our interlocutors, under political blackmail from the European Parliament, do not have the courage to take further steps to solve the problem," the minister concluded.

As we reported earlier, Brussels now expects two important things from trustees of public interest trusts:

• there should be a set of criteria for being appointed to the decision-making body of the organisation, a verifiable process for application or nomination, and
• an organisation that assesses whether a candidate is suitable to be a trustee.

The Hungarian government's latest offer included a simple nomination process to become a director of the foundations, and their "application" would be examined by the State Audit Office. According to the latest news, this does not satisfy the European Commission.

As Hungary prepares for the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2024, Navracsics expects institutional changes to coincide with the EU elections, the formation of the new European Commission and the election of the President of the European Council.

Cover photo: EU.