Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Can corrupted Hungary escape EU judgement?

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

We witnessed a long-awaited event on 1st June: the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) finally began its operation to protect EU monies. One may say it was high time, but we wouldn’t be living in the European Union if there wasn’t yet another twist in the story: Member States were not required to join, and the Orbán government, which had built up a dictatorial regime through tapping into EU funds, refused to participate.

They could hardly have found a more suitable person than Romania’s former chief of anti-corruption prosecution office Laura Codruţa Kövesi to head the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), as she has already proved her capabilities beyond doubt. It must have taken a significant amount of courage for her to combat Romania’s most influential politicians in a sphere that is often euphemistically called “Byzantine” on account of the critically dangerous chains of corruption developing there. Not only did Kövesi combat the people who had caused serious damage to the Romanian state, but she put them behind bars, too, one after the other.

We might as well go as far as to say that if she could stand her ground so courageously in such an environment, the management of the EPPO will almost be like a walk in the park for her.

As a matter of fact, Luxembourg is certainly different from Bucharest, but the challenge is still big. In cooperation with the 22 participating countries, EPPO will have to investigate such crimes in member state territories as money laundering, corruption or tax fraud, provided that the cases affect EU funds. The total value of the cases is very high: according to the known data, such frauds were committed up to the amount of €460 million in 2019 alone, and the sum is expected to rise even higher as the EU’s recovery funds are allocated.

It’s a beautiful challenge but the devil, as usual in the European Union, lies in the details: EU member states were not required to join the EPPO, and five of them did indeed decide to stay out of it. Denmark and Ireland have an opt-out from the area of freedom, security and justice, while Sweden wants to wait until next year to join in the work of the prosecution office. We must note however, that none of these three countries are famous for corruption, and they are not the main net recipients of EU funds, either. It’s more interesting to look at the cases of Poland and Hungary: neither of these countries is planning to join the EPPO at all, but they receive huge sums from the EU.

As far as Poland is concerned, the reason for the rejection is likely political: although the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) has been widely criticized for its increasingly authoritarian methods over the years, its opposition with the EU bodies is mainly ideological. All-devouring corruption has not been reported in Poland.