“Today, the ambassadors of the EU member states recommended to the Council to adopt via written procedure an implementing decision under the conditionality regulation as regards Hungary. The recommendation means that the Committee of Permanent Representatives has found the required qualified majority to impose measures for the protection of the Union budget against the consequences of breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary, concerning public procurement, the effectiveness of prosecutorial action and the fight against corruption in Hungary. The budgetary impact of this suspension amounts to approximately €6.3 billion in budgetary commitments,” European Council said in a statement.

 “In the course of the procedure, Hungary has committed to adopting a number of remedial measures considered by the Commission as capable to address the concerns raised, if taken together and correctly and effectively implemented,” the council noted.

The council stated that “given the remedial measures so far adopted by Hungary are affected by significant weaknesses which seriously compromise their adequacy to address the breaches of the principles of the rule of law identified by the Commission in its proposal, the Council considers that the ensuing risk for the budget of the Union remains high.”

“However, in light of the number and significance of remedial measures that have been satisfactorily implemented by Hungary and given the degree of cooperation it would be a “reasonable approximation” to establish the remaining risk for the budget at 55% of the commitments of the programmes concerned,” it added. (ILKHA)