Hungary must strengthen the independence of its judiciary "very quickly" to have a realistic chance of receiving any of the 15,4 billion euros earmarked for Budapest from the European Union's stimulus package to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official in the bloc said.
The country stands to receive around 5,8 billion euros in free grants and another 9,6 billion euros in cheap loans from the EU, but the bloc has suspended all payments until Budapest implements reforms to improve the independence of the judiciary and fight corruption, Reuters reports.
"They will have to adopt laws that will strengthen the position of judges and anti-corruption actions," said Vera Jurova, deputy head of the European Commission.
Jourova, who is responsible for maintaining democratic standards in the Union of 27 countries, added that the improvement of public procurement in Hungary is another condition.
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