A left-wing take on the future of EU funds
September 21st, 2022A column in the left-wing nationwide daily agrees with pro-government commentators on the probability that frozen EU funds will be unblocked by the end of the year.
In Népszava, Gábor Horváth takes it for granted that the government will enact the measures it has promised to the European Union, which will allow the EU transfers due to Hungary over the current seven-year budget period to start flowing in the near future. (For the position of the European Commission and a similar view by a pro-government columnist, see BudaPost, September 20). On the positive side, Horváth writes, that will be followed by long overdue pay hikes for teachers and medical personnel, as the government has promised, although the European funds ought to be used to shore up the Hungarian economy and infrastructure, rather than pay rises. He interprets the 17 measures Hungary is to introduce ‘to guarantee the integrity of public procurement procedures’ as an admission of widespread corruption. The whole procedure, he concludes, is a ‘shame PM Orbán will not even be able to wash away by 2060’.