Magyar to formally submit Hungary’s application to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar checked in from his former office in the building of the Permanent Representation of Hungary in Brussels on Thursday, shortly before meeting with the NATO Secretary General and the Prime Minister of Belgium.

Magyar was accompanied to Brussels by Finance Minister András Kármán, Foreign Minister Anita Orbán, and Minister of Transport and Investment Dávid Vitézy, who are spending the whole day holding preparatory talks on bringing EU funds home so that the Prime Minister will have “only a few open issues to iron out with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.”

As previously reported, with regard to the blocked EU funds, it is particularly urgent for Hungary to act quickly on matters related to the Recovery Fund, where the government only has a few months to make up for several years of delays. The conditions for receiving the one-time subsidy—worth 10.4 billion euros—must be met by the end of August. The Hungarian government would have to meet 27 rule-of-law and anti-corruption preconditions just to be eligible to request regular payments (fulfilling these would also lift most of the other freezes), as well as implement hundreds of upgrades and reforms for the country to receive a proportionate share of the funds.

In the case of the former, the Orbán government has made no official progress since the end of 2023, despite having made commitments to the European Commission and the governments of the member states at the end of 2022. Former Minister for EU Affairs János Bóka recently stated that there are still "debates about whether the compliance is adequate" on five of the 27 points, meaning that the EU body has found shortcomings in their implementation.

Speaking on Thursday, Péter Magyar emphasized:

“There are still some open issues, but we have essentially reached agreements on numerous important matters. Public interest asset management foundations are an example of this.

As previously reported, this is the most urgent condition, involving the biggest amount of money, and resolving it is a prerequisite for the participation of model-changing universities in Erasmus educational exchanges to be possible. At the end of 2024, the European Commission identified a dozen shortcomings related to this condition alone.

In addition to foundations, the Prime Minister mentioned the powers of the Integrity Authority and the strengthening of the asset declaration system. With regard to the former, he said: “we will expand” its competences, but “we cannot accept any proposed amendments that might conflict with the Hungarian constitutional order”. He did not specify exactly which proposals he was referring to, or where these proposals fit into the Orbán government’s commitments.

There will be much stricter consequences for anyone who submits false information or attempts to conceal something in their asset declarations. Anyone who does so could face up to two years in prison, “whether it be the President of the Republic or a member of Parliament”

– he promised.

He made no mention of the public, searchable online platform, which, according to a previous article by Válasz Online, the Orbán government had managed to implement only halfway—and which cannot be fully rolled out until autumn.

The Prime Minister announced that he would soon officially submit Hungary’s intention to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) to the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council. Magyar said that-just as promised-,this is also part of the government’s efforts to recover assets and combat corruption.

Péter Magyar announced on Wednesday evening that he would travel to Brussels the following day, where he would hold talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, and on Friday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Prime Minister had previously indicated that his meeting with the head of the EU body would most likely take place on the week of the 25th, at which time they would sign a political agreement on the EU funds.