Ursula von der Leyen, chair of the commission, told the European Parliament on Tuesday that Budapest had been informed of the decision and “we will now send the formal notice to launch the enforcement mechanism”. The untested mechanism, designed to prevent the misuse of EU funds by countries retreating to the rule of law, was agreed by all 27 EU leaders in late 2020 and could eventually deprive Budapest of more than € 40 billion from EU payments. “It happens. Finally!” wrote on Twitter the German MEP of the Greens Daniel Freud, an ardent critic of Orban and the reluctance of the Commission to act for his backwardness in democracy. Von de Layen had been specifically accused of dragging her feet on the issue. The move came as a shock to Brussels after Orban struck at “opponents” – including “Brussels bureaucrats” and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – in his victory speech, hours after horrific images of beasts appeared near Bo. Few in the EU have congratulated the Hungarian prime minister on his victory, which followed years of criticism for undermining liberal democratic rights and values and accusing him of using funds from the bloc to enrich his allies. Russian leader Vladimir Putin, however, congratulated Orban, a longtime Kremlin ally, on Monday, saying “further development of a bilateral partnership is fully in line with the interests of the peoples of Russia and Hungary.” Prominent anti-EU politicians such as Britain’s Nigel Farage, France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Matteo Salvini also rushed to congratulate Orban. “When the people vote, the people win,” Lepen wrote on Twitter. Even if it takes time to complete the internal work on the ratification, critics of the Orban regime have said the commission’s decision alone could have a quick impact, making it harder for Budapest to borrow money, for example. Orban, in power since 2010, has tightened the grip on academics, NGOs and the media, as well as restricting the freedoms of immigrants and homosexuals. There have also been numerous allegations of diversion of EU funds to Orbán’s friends and family. The European Court of Justice last month rejected complaints about the mechanism from Hungary and Poland, whose ruling Law and Justice party is in a long-running battle with Brussels for judicial independence, increasing pressure on the Commission to act. At a milestone in the fight for the rule of law in the EU, the bloc’s supreme court rejected the cases of countries “as a whole”, confirming that EU member states could be deprived of EU funds when they did not meet democratic standards. EU values, such as the rule of law, “define the very identity of the European Union as a legal order,” the court said. “Adherence to these values cannot be limited to an obligation that a candidate country must fulfill in order to join the European Union and which it can ignore upon accession.” The law aims to protect against fraud against the EU budget and not all violations of the rule of law. It has won strong support from governments in Western Europe that are net payers to the EU budget. However, it has been criticized by Hungary and Poland, both net recipients of EU funds, who have received billions of euros since joining the bloc in 2004 to improve public infrastructure, fund universities and support farmers.
