EU Funds: Hungary Leaves No Request Unfulfilled

Justice Minister Bence Tuzson stated that only technical adjustments need to be made and all documentation will be sent to the relevant EU bodies within days.

Szabadka, 2023. augusztus 19. Tuzson Bence igazságügyi miniszter nyilatkozik a sajtó munkatársainak a Vajdasági Magyar Szövetség (VMSZ) székházában Szabadkán 2023. augusztus 19-én. MTI/Molnár Edvárd Fotó: Molnár Edvárd

Justice Minister Bence Tuzson held a press conference after the Judicial Council meeting in Brussels. 

Lined up behind the substantive issues are, of course, the political ones, among which the most important for Hungary is the issue of sovereignty.

Migration

Migration is one such question. The minister of justice emphasized that investigating the causes is at least as important as providing assistance to refugees and serving justice.

In response to a press question, he said that Brussels still refuses to link together the issue of migration and terrorism within the official framework.

"Of course, this view no longer holds in private conversations in the corridor. There the two topics have already been linked. We Hungarians are convinced that the two issues are connected, and now there are clear signs of this," he added.

Competitiveness

Hungary's sovereignty is intimately linked to the situation of Europe's competitiveness,

 so when we see in the recent period that Europe is lagging behind both the US and China in terms of competitiveness and that by 2030 we will be at a serious disadvantage, then a number of questions must be put to European decision-makers.

In the Hungarian MoJ's view, one crucial issue the EU must make progress on is that of data protection (ie GDPR).

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and governs how the personal data of individuals in the EU may be processed and transferred. The legislation entered into force in the 28 EU member states in May 2018.. 

The European Commission's approach does not promote the bloc's competitiveness and never considers the overall impact of regulations, the minister pointed out.

So GDPR regulation is exemplary in terms of protecting people, but it often places a burden on small and medium-sized enterprises that puts them in a difficult situation, leading to a competitive disadvantage. 

On behalf of the Hungarian government, Bence Tuzson asked the European Commission to examine this issue from the perspective of competitiveness. He pointed out

if big tech companies around the world know more about a country's citizens than the country itself or any of the European companies, then that country or company is at a competitive disadvantage compared to companies operating from America or China, looking at European people's data from there.

European Public Prosecutor's Office

It is a sovereignty issue for Hungary where the power of investigation is and who can order it, the justice minister said.

Constitutionally, this cannot be otherwise in Hungary than it is at the moment. If we were to give this up, Hungary would relinquish a significant piece of the country's sovereignty,

he underscored.

Funds

Hungary has complied with all EU demands, the Hungarian justice minister told the press conference.

There is no request that Hungary has not fulfilled one hundred percent.

Similar information may have leaked in the EU's capital. Citing EU officials, Euronews recently reported that Brussels considers Hungary's reform measures to be sufficient and was preparing to unblock € 10.4 billion in the cohesion funds withheld so far.

Only technical changes need to be made, and these will be sent to the relevant EU bodies within days, Hungarian Justice Minister Bence Tuzson underlined.

Cover photo: Hungarian Justice Minister Bence Tuzson (Photo: MTI/Edvard Molnar)