The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) issued a press release summarizing its investigative work during the year 2018. The office concluded 167 investigations and issued 256 recommendations. A quick look at The OLAF Report of 2018, available online, reveals that it was in Hungary that the greatest number of cases were investigated, nine in all. Seven cases were closed with recommendations, which in ordinary language means that in the great majority of the cases OLAF found financial irregularities. Greece and Poland followed with eight cases each, but in Poland’s case OLAF investigators found only three with any indication of fraud. Following Greece and Poland were Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Italy. In brief, the Hungarian situation is the most alarming.
Most of the cases involve irregularities, or, less politely put, fraud, in the so-called structural and investment funds, of which Hungary is one of the chief beneficiaries. The upshot of the report as far Hungary is concerned is that between 2014 and 2018 3.64% of the development funds, or €371 million, should be returned to Brussels. That figure is undoubtedly a vast underestimation of the amount of fraud.
Despite obvious signs of systemic fraud, OLAF managers don’t see “any obvious pattern in the Hungarian statistics.” At least this is what Ernesto Bianchi, director of investigation, said the other day. Instead of going after the culprits, he believes in “continuous cooperation and dialogue.” Naïve fellow. We who follow what’s going on in Hungary know that you can neither cooperate nor have a dialogue with Viktor Orbán and his ilk.
István Ujhelyi, MSZP MEP, is worried about the Hungarian government’s ability, during the budget negotiations, to make a case to get its fair share from the EU budget for the period between 2021 and 2027 because of the Orbán government’s bad reputation. In his opinion, the abysmal results of OLAF’s investigation will reduce the Orbán government’s effectiveness in representing the interests of the country as far as EU structural funds are concerned. That may be, but, as far as I can ascertain, the decision was made a long time ago that the East-Central European countries will receive considerably less money in the future. First of all, with the departure of the United Kingdom, the European Union will have less money to spend. Second, in the last few years these countries have been doing well economically and therefore they need less financial support. Angela Merkel made that fairly clear during her meeting with Viktor Orbán in Sopron on July 19.
Since the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Hungary has failed, for the most part, to follow up on previous OLAF investigations, the only solution would be for Hungary to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) which, as we know only too well, the Orbán government resists. Ákos Hadházy, the “private investigator” of corruption, championed Hungary’s adherence to EPPO and led a drive that resulted in 680,000 Hungarians signing a petition for Hungary to join the network of EPPO. But Hadházy said that the European Union must also do its part by forcing the Hungarian government to submit to the common will. Hadházy welcomes the report because “it calls the attention of the EU decision makers” to the seriousness of the situation. Hadházy hopes that “considerable pressure will be applied on the government.”
The two largest beneficiaries of the structural fund, Poland and Hungary, refuse to join EPPO
What was the reaction of the Orbán government to the OLAF Report? It looks as if it was Tamás Deutsch’s turn to explain the reason for the bad report card. Although the OLAF report examined nine cases, all of which occurred between 2014 and 2018, Deutsch said that the harsh report was the result of the corruption of the socialist-liberal governments (2002-2010). When journalists pointed out to him that just last year 33 requests for investigation were turned into OLAF, Deutsch brushed it aside as political revenge by opposition politicians against the Orbán government. Moreover, he said, these politicians themselves were deeply involved in fraudulent projects earlier. Of course, none of these accusations is supported by facts.
Deutsch also accused OLAF of “directly intervening in the Hungarian election campaign on the side of the left-wing opposition by releasing this report.” The charge that the EU is interfering in Hungarian elections is another old Fidesz song. Last September, after the European Parliament passed the Sargentini Report, the Orbán government claimed that the release of the report was timed to influence the results of the EP elections, which took place seven months later, in May.
Of course, it is always good to see hard data that confirm our suspicion that few countries could beat Orbán’s Hungary when it comes to corruption, but it’s still depressing.