
Transparency International (TI) Hungary, in cooperation with Connect Europe Association, is organising an international conference entitled Protecting European values and the EU budget – Rule of law and transparency: weak points in Hungary’s EU presidency programme. The Democracy Institute of the Central European University (CEU) is a supporting partner of the event. With the participation of high-level EU officials, politicians, think-tanks, and civil society organisations involved in monitoring the use of EU funds, the conference will take stock of the Hungarian presidency’s performance so far and assess the rule of law situation and the state of democracy in Hungary. The conference will be opened by Vera Jourová, the European Commission’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency.
The programme of Hungary’s six-month EU presidency does not foresee much action for the protection of the rule of law and the fight against corruption, despite the fact that these are fundamental values of the EU. In fact, Hungary is the only EU country facing legal actions and having its EU funding partially suspended for systematically breaching EU rules and norms in these areas.
How much progress has Hungary made in implementing the milestones set under the ongoing rule of law procedure? What conclusions can be drawn so far from the rule of law procedure against Hungary – the first of its kind in the EU – regarding the efficiency and transparency of this instrument? How is the EU tackling corruption and breaches of the rule of law in other member states? Can we expect much progress in the inter-institutional negotiations on the new EU anti-corruption directive during the Hungarian EU presidency? How can the EU involve civil society organisations more efficiently at the national level in protecting the bloc’s fundamental rights and values and the EU budget? Do Hungary’s sovereignty protection law and the procedures launched against independent media outlets and civil society organisations by the Sovereignty Protection Office breach the EU’s fundamental values? Do we need new rules to protect the EU budget and fundamental European values?
The one-day international conference jointly organised by Transparency International (TI) Hungary and Connect Europe will look into these issues with high-level level EU officials, politicians, think-tanks and civil society organisation involved in monitoring the use of EU funds.
Date: Monday, 4 November 2024, 10AM CET-6PM CET
Venue: Auditorium, Central European University – CEU, 15 street Nádor, H-1051
Our keynote speakers include: János Bóka, Hungary’s EU Affairs Minister, Verá Jourová, the European Commission’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency, and Tineke Strik, Member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, and Rapporteur on the rule of law in Hungary.
Our panelists include: Nicholas Aiossa, Director of Transparency International EU, Pertti Anttinen, Finland’s Ambassador to Hungary, Miroslav Cák, Partner at AGM Law Firm, Katalin Cseres, Associate Professor of Law at the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG), Julia Gross, Germany’s Ambassador to Hungary, Krzysztof Izdebski, Member of the Board of Directors of the Polish NGO Batory Foundation, Bálint Magyar, Senior Research Fellow at the Central European University Democracy Institute, former Minister of Education, Hungary, Márta Pardavi, Co-Chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Annemie Turtelboom, Chair of the Audit Chamber II (Investment for Cohesion, Growth and Inclusion) of the European Court of Auditors, Michal Wawrykiewitz, Vice-Coordinator of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
Participation in the event is free, but registration is required. Registrations will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis up to the capacity of the venue. Please, fill this form to register. You may also find the event on our FB-profile.
UPDATE: please note that the registration closed on 28 October due to high interest! We are not able to accept any further registrations!
The language of the event is English, with simultaneous interpretation into Hungarian.
DETAILED AGENDA
MORNING SESSIONS
9:30-10:00: Networking: welcome coffee/tea
10:00: Start of the Conference
10:00-10:30: Opening addresses:
József Péter Martin, Executive Director, Transparency International (TI) Hungary
István Szent-Iványi, President, Connect Europe, former State Secretary
Keynote speeches
10:30-10:50: János Bóka, Hungary’s EU Affairs Minister
10:50-11:00: Q&A
11:00-11:20: Věra Jourová, Vice-president (Values and Transparency), European Commission (online) – The rule-of-law challenge of the European Union with special regard to Hungary.
11:20-11:30: Q&A
I. Thematic block: Protection of EU fundamental values
Moderator: Miklós Ligeti, Legal Director, Transparency International Hungary
11:30-11:45: Panel keynote speech: Tineke Strik, Member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Rapporteur on the rule of law in Hungary (online) – Assessment of the EU conditionality procedure against Hungary as an instrument to cut back corruption and to protect the EU budget.
11:45-13:00: Panel discussion: Protection of EU values and the rule of law – To what extent are the EU’s fundamental rights and values (such as the independence of the judiciary, the right to information and to a fair trial etc.) and the rule of law enforced in the member states? Based on the Hungarian example: could the European Commission deploy the rule of law mechanism more efficiently and more transparently? How to reverse the rule of law erosion without having to resort to new rule-of-law breaches (based on the Polish example)? What instrument do civil society organisations have to stop or reverse the rule of law erosion in time (based on the Slovak example)? Do we need new EU laws in this area?
Participants:
Krzysztof Izdebski, Member of the Board of Directors, Polish NGO Stefan Batory Foundation
Bálint Magyar, Senior Research Fellow, Central European University Democracy Institute, former Minister of Education, Hungary
Márta Pardavi, Co-Chair, Hungarian Helsinki Committee
Michal Wawrykiewicz, Vice-Coordinator, Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament (online)
13:00-13:10: Q&A
13:10-14:40: Lunch break
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
II. Thematic block: Protecting EU funds
Moderator: József Péter Martin, Executive Director, Transparency International Hungary
14:40-15:50: Panel discussion: Protection of EU funds and the bloc’s competitiveness – To what extent corruption linked to EU funds is harming the bloc’s economic performance and competitiveness (modelling, calculations)? Is the use of RRF-like performance indicators a good model for making the next EU budget more transparent and efficient? Should civil society organisations in the Monitoring Committees be better empowered to control the spending of EU money? Are there any legal loopholes that hinder the transparent use of public money (such as the scope of the anti-corruption directive, rules governing the operation of private equity funds etc.)?
Participants:
Nicholas Aiossa, Director, Transparency International EU
Miroslav Cák, Partner, AGM Law Firm
Katalin Cseres, Associate Professor of Law, Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance
Annemie Turtelboom, Chair of the Audit Chamber II (Investment for Cohesion, Growth and Inclusion), European Court of Auditors
15:50-16:00: Q&A
16:00-16:20: Coffee break
III. Thematic block: Ambassadors’ views
Moderator: István Szent-Iványi, President, Connect Europe, former State Secretary
16:20-17:00: Panel discussion: Member States’ perspectives on Hungary’s rule of law backsliding
Participants:
Julia Gross, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Hungary
Pertti Anttinen, Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Hungary
17:00-17:10: Concluding remarks
We warmly welcome all interested parties!