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The European parliament has threatened legal action against Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to unfreeze part of Hungary’s EU funding in order to secure Viktor Orbán’s support for Ukraine.
In a heated debate on Wednesday, the European Commission president denied giving in to blackmail and said Hungary’s government had carried out sufficient judicial reforms to secure the unblocking of €10bn in EU funds, which had been frozen because of rule of law issues.
“Hungary delivered,” von der Leyen said. “These are the rules we have all agreed to and we will follow them. This is what makes the rule of law stand out from arbitrary power.”
She said a further €20bn was still frozen because of concerns about LGBT+ rights, academic freedom and migrants’ rights under Prime Minister Orbán’s increasingly autocratic rule.
However, MEPs from the four biggest political groups, including von der Leyen’s own centre-right European People’s party (EPP), argue that the money was released too early, to persuade Orbán to drop his veto to Ukraine’s membership of the EU and long-term funding for Kyiv.
Just days after the commission decided to unblock Hungary’s funds, Orbán allowed the opening of accession talks with Ukraine but refused to budge on the bloc’s plans to allocate €50bn to Kyiv over the next four years.
“The fact that [those] who are supposed to protect the EU’s financial interests are now giving in to blackmail is unbelievable,” Malik Azmani, leader of the liberal Renew Europe group, said. “We can no longer give in to Mr Orbán’s demands. The confidence of this house in the commission depends on what happens next.”
MEPs are now threatening to sue the commission over the decision, with a vote set to take place on Thursday on whether to prepare a case before the European Court of Justice. Lawmakers could also trigger a vote of confidence in the commission if it released further funds to Hungary.
Manfred Weber, the EPP leader who has already signed a letter condemning the decision, said he wanted “clarification” of the reasons behind it.
Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield said that by handing Orbán money for his “oligarchy” the EU had “made him stronger”.
Von der Leyen, who is expected to declare her candidacy for a second term next month, needs to be approved by parliament and cannot afford to alienate its biggest groups, given that in 2019 she was voted into office with just a nine-vote majority.
Iratxe Garcia Perez, the leader of the Socialists, which supported her then, said they had yet to decide to do so again. “We are defending the rule of law conditionality mechanism, and the European Commission has to respect this rule of law conditionality mechanism,” she told the Financial Times.
But before being voted in by parliament, von der Leyen has to secure the backing of leaders who will decide on the bloc’s top jobs after EU elections in June. In a sign of how pressing that matter is, the commission president left the parliamentary debate midway through to fly to Italy and meet Prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
Orbán, who is unlikely to endorse von der Leyen, continues to oppose the idea of using the EU budget to send €50bn in grants and loans to Kyiv. “We don’t want to join anyone in any borrowing, and we don’t want to solve this problem within the EU budget,” he said in a Facebook video late on Tuesday.
“This is the Hungarian proposal. If Brussels accepts this, then Ukraine will have help, outside the budget. If they don’t accept it then unfortunately I will be forced to stop that process,” he said.
To try to convince Orbán the commission has proposed options including an automatic review in 2025, and an emergency brake, which would compel leaders to reassess the spending if triggered but would not give him a veto.
If Orbán continues to veto, there are plans for the 26 other member states to raise the money outside the EU budget.
Diplomats said they were hopeful of a deal at a summit on February 1. “We don’t like the emergency brake but if this is what they need to save face and agree so be it,” said an EU diplomat.
