Hungary govt submits anti-graft bill to unlock EU funds

Hungary's government introduced wide-ranging draft anti-corruption legislation on Tuesday as it seeks to implement reforms to access billions of euros in withheld European Union funds.

The EU announced late last month it would unlock more than 16 billion euros ($19 billion) for Hungary that had been frozen over rule-of-law concerns during nationalist premier Viktor Orban's rule, if Budapest stays on track with a major reform push.

Obtaining the funds was a top campaign pledge for Prime Minister Peter Magyar, a pro-EU conservative, who ousted Orban from office after 16 years in the April elections.

The bulk of the frozen funds -- just over 10 billion euros -- comes from the EU's Covid recovery fund, and Hungary had until the end of August to present a new plan to secure them.

Magyar hailed the proposed legislative package as "historic".

"Hungarian people and companies can finally gain access to... EU funds that are rightfully theirs, and to achieve this we need do nothing more than what the people of Hungary also expect from us: to eradicate Orban-style corruption," he said in a Facebook video. AFP