Top European party leaders slam Orbán's push for EU concessions – Politico

The heads of Europe's largest political groups intend to call on Brussels not to unfreeze EU funding for Hungary until the rule of law is fully restored in the country. The text of the letter of the party leaders in the EU is quoted by Politico.

The publication has at its disposal a draft of the letter, which has not yet been published, as it has not yet been signed by the leaders of all the parties that support it (European People's Party, the Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe and the Greens). At the same time, all four parties confirmed to the publication that the letter will definitely be signed.

"We would like to express our deep concern as regards the imminent positive assessment of the Hungarian judicial reforms," the draft letter reads.

According to senior sources, the European Commission plans to unblock 10 billion euros of funding for Hungary, frozen, as it was claimed, because of the Hungarian government's departure from the principle of the rule of law. It is assumed that these funds will be unfrozen due to the threats of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, to block the package of European financial aid for Ukraine, as well as to veto the beginning of negotiations regarding Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

According to the authors of the letter, the conditions set by the European Union for Hungary's unfreezing of funding, including a deep reform of the judicial system, were never fulfilled.

The EU leadership claims that Budapest has already reformed the judicial system and the unfreezing of funds has nothing to do with Orban's threat to block aid to Ukraine.

At the same time, some high-ranking officials of Hungary continue to directly link the country's position towards Ukraine and the unfreezing of funding from the EU, Politico writes. The Prime Minister's political adviser Balázs Orbán (his namesake, but not a relative) said on Tuesday that "if the EU insists that Ukraine be financed from the amended EU budget, then these two issues will become interrelated."

The authors of the letter believe that a concession by the EU in this matter to Hungary would be a mistake, as Hungary, in their opinion, has not fulfilled its obligations. In particular, the national legislation was not changed to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, and even the amendments adopted in this direction did not enter into force.

The letter ends with a warning about new threats to the rule of law in Hungary, in particular the draft law on the establishment of the Agency for the Protection of Sovereignty, which "will allow the prime minister to create a new authority directly under his control, endowed with broad powers without any restrictions and beyond democratic control".

On October 7, Orbán and Vladimir Putin met in China. The Hungarian prime minister said that his country "never wanted to confront Russia and is trying to salvage bilateral contacts." After the meeting with Putin, Orban was sharply criticized by other EU leaders.

On October 25, after Orbán compared Hungary's membership in the EU to the Soviet occupation, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said that no one in the EU is holding Hungary.

On November 23, the executive bodies of the European Union approved advance payments in the amount of 900 million euros within the framework of the previously frozen fund to support the economy of Hungary.