Hungary – European Union. Covenant and Punishment. EU freezes billions of euros, lifts Hungary’s veto on aid to Ukraine

“EU diplomats have approved a support package in principle Ukraine KPO approves 15 percent minimum tax for large companies, amounting to EUR 18 billion Hungarian and agreement on condition. The package will be confirmed through a written procedure, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union said.

TVN24 correspondent in Brussels, Maciej Sokołowski, said that Hungary has accepted help for Ukraine in a package of matters related to Hungary. Officials in Budapest have lifted their veto on aid to Ukraine through an 18 billion euro joint loan program. Hungary has also withdrawn its veto on the global corporate tax.

“Ambassadors of the EU Member States have today recommended that the Council adopt, through a written procedure, the implementation decision under the conditional provisions with regard to Hungary,” the EU Council said in a press release.

“This recommendation means that the Permanent Delegation has received the necessary A qualified majority Introducing measures to protect the Union’s budget against the consequences of legal violations in Hungary, public procurement, effectiveness of prosecution and the fight against corruption in Hungary. The budgetary impact of this suspension is approximately €6.3 billion in budgetary liabilities.

“The solutions adopted by Hungary so far suffer from significant weaknesses that seriously affect their adequacy to address the infringements of the law identified by the Commission in its proposal, and the Council considers that the risk to the Union budget is therefore high. .”

“However, in light of the number and importance of countermeasures that Hungary has implemented satisfactorily, and given the level of cooperation, a ‘reasonable approximation’ is to set the residual risk for the budget at 55% commitment,” it said.

The agreement and decisions made by the ambassadors of the EU countries, after the approval of the Council of the European Union for the Hungarian KPO, EUR 5.8 billion in the form of grants can come to Budapest, but only after fulfilling the related conditions of the judiciary, that is, after completing the so-called 27 super milestones – explained Maciej Sokołowski.

At the same time, the Council’s decision to punish Hungary under the rule of law will freeze 6.3 billion euros, as reported by a TVN24 correspondent in Brussels.

The funds will be released once conditions related to the fight against corruption and the rule of law are met.

Conditional regulation is a tool for safeguarding the budgetary and financial interests of the Union. Recently, Hungary adopted several “countermeasures”. However, on November 30, based on its analysis, which it confirmed in its updated assessment of December 9, the Commission concluded that these “remedies” were not fully satisfactory to achieve the objective of the conditional regulation to protect the Union’s budget.