At the press conference, too, the tone was mostly one of opinion rather than of arguments based on real legal grounds. MEP Sarvamaa could only go so far as to say that "the picture is not perfect" and asked the Commission to wait and see whether the conditions set are indeed met by the Hungarian government.
Daniel Freund tried to argue that the election process of the judiciary's national council had not yet been completed and that the changes concerning the position of the President of the Curia (Hungary's Supreme Court - ed.) would only apply to its future president, so it would be premature and wrong to judge the steps already taken by the Hungarian government as adequate. And the gist of what Thijs Reuten had to say was that
we're afraid that the [Hungarian] government will not act in good faith once it receives the money.
The Hungarian Momentum party's delegate, liberal MEP Katalin Cseh, also shared her thoughts, saying
the Commission must not give in to the blackmailer, so essentially she argued that Hungary should not receive the EU funds that it's rightfully entitled to.
Later, in response to a question from Germany's public broadcaster regarding the status of decisions on unfreezing the funds, Ms Cseh said the citizens' perspective is also important in this issue, who
first felt that the Commission had done something for them [referring to the freezing of funds], but they can no longer hear the Commission's voice as it's been silenced by propaganda.
Ms Cseh's somewhat confused train of thought suggests that the background may be that MEPs and the European Parliament are offended that the Commission is negotiating and moving forward on a particular issue with a member state, i. e.
the EP is trying to exert pressure on the Commission to impose its own agenda, even when there's no legal basis for doing so.
MCC Brussels also reacted to the press briefing and issued a statement, saying: "Suffice to say, Daniel Freund and his friends believe that Hungary has not met the milestones."
This is an attempt to put political pressure on the Commission to assume a negative stance and even threaten with the possibility of taking action despite the fact that MEPs have little say in the process. The assessment of the milestones and the decision is entirely within the European Commission's remit.
In short: liberal MEP Katalin Cseh spent October 23, the anniversary of the 1956 revolution, by fighting in Brussels to withhold EU funds due to Hungary.
Cover photo: Momentum's EP list leader, Katalin Cseh, at the party's results waiting event in the Dürer Event Hall on the day of the European Parliament (EP) elections, May 26, 2019. (Photo: MTI/Tibor Illyes)
