EU Commission to keep Hungary's EU funds in limbo

A group of MEPs whose phones were hacked or had been wiretapped by apparent state services are still seeking answers.

MEPs criticised the EU Commission for what they see as the executive not being tough enough on the government of Viktor Orbán, as Hungary's parliament passed new legislation as part of a deal with the EU executive.

"Russian disinformation is almost like a nightmare. It takes the very worst of us, our worst beliefs and deepest fears, and amplifies them through social media algorithms".

The EU is adding Anguilla, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos Islands to its blacklist of tax-havens, in what some have called a "fig-leaf" exercise.

A far-right bloc, led by former fascist Georgia Meloni, barrelled to victory in Italian elections on Sunday with up to 45 percent of the vote.

Italy's economy depends a lot on the recovery fund, and on the bond buying scheme of the European Central Bank, and Meloni is ulikely torisk it for a "freedom fight" against the EU.

Swedish minister for European affairs Hans Dahlgren told EUobserver no decision can be expected on majority vote next year. Mikuláš Bek, the Czech minister for European affairs, said enlargement and changes to the decision-making are politically interlinked.

Critics point out that Hungary will continue to receive substantial inflows of EU funds since the proposed suspension applies only to around 22 percent of total EU subsidies earmarked for Hungary in the bloc's current budget for 2021-2027.

The freezing, the first time in the EU's history using the conditionality mechanism linking EU subsidies to the respect of the rule of law, would suspend money from the bloc's cohesion funds under the 2021-27 long-term budget.

The proposal for a so-called European Media Freedom Act announced on Friday by the European Commission is part of wider efforts to tackle the erosion of rule of law in EU states like Poland and Hungary.

Polish government authorities snubbed a European Parliament probe into spyware Pegasus by refusing to show up to an inquiry on Thursday.

Ursula von der Leyen barely noticed that European democracy is under attack not only from external threats, but from within. Two of the world's leading autocratic countries are EU member states.

The European Parliament is the first EU institution expected to say that one of the 27 EU members is not a fully-fledged democracy. But that has little consequence for Hungary — more to the EU.

Spain must renew the country's top judicial body, European Commission vice-president Věra Jourová has warned — after the president of the National Council for the Judiciary threatened to resign.