EU Commission's evaluation of Hungary's judicial reform is delayed further by new questions

HUNGARY - In Brief 04 Nov 2023 by Istvan Racz

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Following a letter with questions sent out on September 26, which the government answered on October 19, the EU Commission sent another letter with new questions regarding 'certain elements' of Hungary's judicial reforms on November 1, a Commission spokesman told the Hungarian press the other day. This will further delay the EU Commission's evaluation of the said reforms, which were carried out in H1 this year. Formally, the Commission has three months for the evaluation of the reforms, and originally that would have expired on October 18. However, once they have sent out a letter, asking for further information from the government, the deadline is extended by the period until the latter's response is received. Once again in the formal sense, this circumstance has pushed the deadline to November 10. But given the new query  sent out most lately, the likely time by which the Commission's opinion may be expected now is the turn of the month between November and December. As a consequence, the European Council may decide to unfreeze a €13bn tranche of Hungary's 2021-2027 cohesion policy grants quota by the next EC summit on December 14-15, in case the Commission and the government strike a deal on the subject previously, on the basis of which the Commission would issue a positive recommendation on the subject. The rest of the €32bn grants+loans total quota will remain inaccessible until agreement is reached on the remaining 23+3 structural policy and technical requirements set by the EU Commission for that purpose.