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A year of missed opportunities 30 Oct 2023

In the second half of 2022, Hungary made a number of commitments, partly due to the launch of the conditionality mechanism and partly to the adoption of Hungary's RRF plan. This is the largest and most comprehensive anti-corruption and rule of law package in the last ten years, providing the Government with a unique opportunity to send a clear signal to EU partners, civil society and citizens that anti-corruption criticisms are taken seriously.
K-Monitor decided to assess the implementation and the practical effects of the most important commitments one year after the start of the reforms initiated by the EU’s conditionality mechanism. The implementation of the commitments is far from being carried out at the right pace and with the ambition to achieve real results in the fight against corruption in Hungary. The
implementation of many of the measures will at best only formally meet the milestones set out in the recovery plan.
This formal fulfillment is only valid for the so-called super-milestones: which are essentially about the mere setting up of the legal framework and institutions. The substance of the framework, the actual implementation of the anti-corruption commitments, is already seriously delayed, if not sabotaged by the Government. All this suggests that in the absence of external (including financial) pressure, the government is not willing to take meaningful steps to reduce corruption.

K-Monitor made a detailed analysis of the major anti-corruption commitments made in the framework of the conditionality mechanism and the Recovery Plan, in the light of the implementation milestones that should have been met by Q3 2023 (i.e. 30th September, 2023). K-Monitor also analysed whether new legislation, institutions and practices have contributed to lowering corruption risks in Hungary. In doing so, a reference is often made to previous analyses.
Read the whole anlysis here.