The European Commission is lying about the approval of the Hungarian recovery plan

The European Parliament held a plenary debate today on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). MEP Tamás Deutsch, Head of Fidesz delegation to the European Parliament, underlined that the European Commission’s statements about the delay in approving the Hungarian Recovery and Resilience Plan are blatant lies. “There is no technical dispute at all between the Commission and the Hungarian government that would delay the signing of the agreement”, the head of the delegation stressed.

The Fidesz MEP recalled that “months ago, representatives of the Commission and the Hungarian government were in full agreement on all the details of the Hungarian plan. Arranging the Commission President’s visit to Budapest to sign the agreement was already underway”.

MEP Tamás Deutsch stressed that “the political hysteria over the Child Protection Act started after an agreement was reached on the Hungarian plan. It is only because of the ideological and political attacks on the Child Protection Act that the Commission has pulled the handbrake and abuses its power by blackmailing Hungary to withhold recovery funds”.

“What the European Commission is claiming is therefore no more than a lie, and what it is doing is outright blackmail, mere political banditry”, Tamás Deutsch warned.

MEP Enikő Győri, Fidesz member of the EP’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, who addressed the debate in the committee preparing the plenary session, said that the commissioners responsible for the recovery funds have repeatedly said there is no double standard. However, the question as to whether other Member States were also sent endless lists of questions during the negotiations on tackling corruption and fraud remains unanswered. Double standards do exist in practice. They also failed to explain why the negotiations, which were otherwise going well, got stuck at the very moment the Child Protection Act was adopted in Budapest.

MEP Enikő Győri highlighted that “it also shows the double standard that, it seems, nothing will ever be enough for the Commission. According to a report by the EU Court of Auditors, Hungary has used resources well above the EU average in the last financial period. It was one of the first to adopt, submit to the European Commission, and receive approval for its National Anti-Fraud Strategy. Hungary is one of the most cooperative countries with OLAF and the first non-member country to have concluded a cooperation agreement with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office”.

We call on the Commission and its President to approve the Hungarian and Polish recovery plans as soon as possible.