Parliament finds deal

EU Commission sued over Hungary funds

The dispute between the EU Parliament and the Commission over the release of cohesion funds for Hungary has now landed before the European Court of Justice. MEPs have identified a deal between the Commission and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to prevent him from blocking aid funds for Ukraine.

After the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee voted almost unanimously in favor of the lawsuit on Tuesday - with 16 votes in favor and one against - Parliament President Roberta Metsola has now also given the green light for the legal project.

Parliament President Roberta Metsola(Bild: APA/AFP/FREDERICK FLORIN)

Billions bought approval for Ukraine aid?
Parliament had previously expressed "serious concerns" about the Commission's decision in December to release 10.2 billion euros to Prime Minister Orbán's government. Critics suspected a deal to persuade Orbán to lift his veto on EU aid of 50 billion euros for Ukraine. However, he maintained his blockade at the December summit and it was only at a special summit on February 1 that the right-wing nationalist politician relented.

The EU had frozen funding for Hungary in a long-standing dispute over shortcomings in the rule of law. The EU Commission justified the release with a judicial reform in Hungary. In Parliament's view, however, this only remedies the shortcomings on paper at best.

Von der Leyen's party colleagues support lawsuit
The new lawsuit is particularly noteworthy because von der Leyen's party colleagues made no obvious attempts to prevent it. They now have to put up with the question of why they are not supporting their top representative on such a fundamental issue. Von der Leyen was only officially put forward by the EPP last week as the EPP candidate for a second term as President of the EU Commission.

EPP circles said on Thursday that opposing the lawsuit could have been misunderstood as support for Orbán. In principle, they would have wanted to carry out an even more detailed legal examination before taking legal action.