The EU has taken Hungary hostage

The European Commission abuses its powers over the recovery fund.

In this case, two basic methods can be put into practice by the EU to enforce the dominant left-wing ideology on “reluctant” Member States. One is legal sanctions, the other is withdrawing financial support. As the Justice Commissioner stated, both methods will be implemented against Hungary. The Article 7 procedure and the infringement proceedings belong to the former category while the extended application of the rule of law mechanism to the EU budget for Covid recovery would fall under the latter. 

The logic is clear with the second category: to create an economic disadvantage relative to other regional Member States, which inhibits the country’s ability to retain jobs, maintain income levels and implement family support tax incentives by weakening the country’s capacity to attract investment and capital. According to their intentions, this could lead to social discontent which would eventually help to shape the will of the electorate to vote against their current government.

Hungarian citizens are in fact being held hostage – signaling that, in exchange the correct votes, the left-wing EU political and financial quarantine will be lifted. Therefore, during the recovery fund negotiations, Secretary of State Szabolcs Ágost­házy, who is leading the Hungarian delegation, is essentially working as a hostage negotiator for the Hungarians to be freed of this discriminatory treatment. However, there does not seem to be much will to cooperate on the part of those holding the hostages. It seems that the two-months deadline set this past summer by the EU regulations for the Commission to approve the government plans was for nothing; this had to be extended by a month to respond to the continued objections in Brussels. However, by the end of September, still no date had been set for finalizing the plans’ approval.

Incidentally, the incoming German governing coalition which has significant sway over the EU, has announced their program. One aspect includes urging the EU institutions to “more consistently and quickly use all resources possible” to exert more pressure on Poland and Hungary. The Ursula von der Leyen-lead European Parliament has not needed any additional encouragement to do so, and their efforts to block funding to Hungary have now only been strengthened. It is an unfortunate fact that Hungary cannot expect any substantive legal solution from the European Court of Justice either because the panel’s decisions make it clear they consider the EU treaties as (left-wing) ideological documents and see it their mission to enforce that ideology. The decisions brought in the cases of the Sargentini report and the mandatory migrant quotas cannot be read without a sense of second-hand professional shame. Moreover, the seemingly unnecessary court process is so lengthy anyways that it calls into question the purpose of it in the first place.

These are the circumstances under which the Hungarian government has had to replace the illegally withheld EU recovery funds with money from financial markets which has been made possible by the successful economic results of the past years and minimal debt. This has freed the country from the European Commission's financial trap and protected the rights of Hungarians to free and independent self-determination.

The author is a lawyer specializing in European law

Photo: European Union flag (Photo: Flickr)