Ferreira reckons with Orban: “With the EU the country has prospered, 50 billion from cohesion alone”

Brussels – “Bad” and much contested European Union.  The view that a certain Hungarian policy has of the EU, and not since recent times, on closer inspection, is not so nefarious. Quite the contrary: it has been—and still is—a real bargain for Viktor Orban’s Hungary. Support for business, employment, and wealth. The EU has done so much for the member state, and Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion, does the math for the Budapest government at the Portfolio on European Funds conference.

The commissioner celebrates 20 years of membership in the twelve-star family and reminds those in the room that “in these twenty years, you have benefited from nearly 50 billion euros of European support from the cohesion policy”, not counting all the other European contributions. Wanting to give a practical example of what this all means, with the approximately €50 billion, “we are talking about an average of five thousand euros per person in Hungary.” But there is more than just household wealth. Counting the 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 rounds, Ferreira continues, “In the last two rounds of programs, this funding has supported 70 thousand businesses and the creation of 90 thousand jobs.”

The reference to the last two cycles of cohesion policy is not coincidental. Viktor Orban has been prime minister since 2010, and counting the money in the Hungarian leader’s pocket does not end here. With EU funds, the Cohesion Commissioner’s summary continues, ” Hungary’s per capita GDP has grown, from 63 per cent of the EU average to 78 per cent, and your employment rate has grown from 57 to 80 per cent.” So here is proof of Europe’s strength and added value, which are also strength and added value for Hungary. “You have used this money to support long-term growth and employment,” Ferreira stressed. 

Data in hand, then, “in the past 20 years, since Hungary acceded to the EU, Hungary has prospered economically,” Ferreira claims, in an argument aimed directly at who has done nothing but attack and criticize this European Union. Referring to Viktor Orban, of course, to whom she needs to say that as EU and Hungary “we should pursue this work together in full respect of European values, in a spirit of partnership and with the full participation of citizens.” A dig related to the issue of such a deterioration of the rule of law that the country should be denied the rotating presidency of the EU Council. 

As EU, Ferreira continues, and through cohesion policies alone, there is a €4.5 billion support ready to stimulate productivity, business process efficiency, and digitization. On top of this, €6.7 billion of European support for investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, circular economy, and sustainable transport. All money that “we will provide,” she assures. Because, she adds, “we do all we can to mobilize the funds and to create the future of Hungary that we all want to see: a prosperous, just, and free Hungary.” 

The real, direct lunge against Orban comes at the end. Ferreira saves it for the last passage of her speech. The EU has enriched Hungary economically. Orban does not seem to have understood this or has concealed it from his fellow citizens. And he seems to be pulling the country in a different and opposite direction than the EU indicates. Proof of this is the emphasis that the EU commissioner puts on funds.

“As you know, recently a portion of cohesion funds for Hungary, amounting to 10.2 billion euros, has been released,” Ferreira recalls. “The independence of the judiciary and the rule of law are fundamental principles of our Europe. Therefore, it is natural that European money should be invested according to European values and rules.”