EU starts procedure to slash funding for Hungary due to rule of law violations
The EU's executive on Wednesday initiated against Hungary a never-before-used procedure that could see Budapest stripped of funding for flouting democratic standards. The move comes just over three weeks after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban won re-election with an overwhelming majority. The nationalist is frequently accused in Brussels of backsliding on democratic norms. EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn was given the greenlight to send a "written notification" to Hungary's government triggering the start of the rule of law mechanism, European Commission vice president Margaritis Schinas said. A senior EU official said the move represented the "very first formal step" in the lengthy procedure and that Hungary would have two months to respond once it received the letter. Overall the back-and-forth with Budapest could take nine months and any potential cuts to Hungary's EU funding would need to be endorsed by a super-majority of the bloc's 27 member states. Brussels has repeatedly clashed with Hungary over its public procurement system, conflict of interests and corruption. The conditionality mechanism was created in 2020, after a summit at the height of the...