Steven N.The European Commission has identified another corruption risk in the Hungarian legal system and has initiated infringement proceedings against Hungary, writes HVG‘s Eurologus.
According to the site, every year the Commission sends country-specific recommendations to the Hungarian authorities on the types of corruption risks can arise through the use of EU funds. However, the Hungarian government generally does not take the appropriate steps to comply with these recommendations.
The Commission decided to send a letter of formal notice to Hungary for failing to properly entrenching EU rules on the protection of the EU’s financial interests, which form a part of the Commission’s anti-fraud strategy.
HVG reports that there are issues in the Hungarian legal system regarding the provisions of the EU directive that define the concepts of criminal offenses (such as fraud, corruption and misappropriation), as well as sanctions and statues of limitations.
Hungary now has two months to respond, and if the concerns by Brussels are not resolved, the procedure will then proceed to the next stage. Apart from Hungary, Estonia, Malta, and the Netherlands also received letters warning them of similar concerns.
Four other infringement proceedings against Hungary have been initiated by the EU in addition to the current one, and are still in process. [Telex]
