EU funds – Q&A on the implementation of Super Milestone 216

On 12 December 2022, the Council adopted Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan based on the Commission’s positive evaluation. Compared to the original plan, a new set of measures were added on governance and public administration, containing 38 measures with 111 milestones and targets. Of these, 27 milestones are referred to as ‘super milestones’, without which no payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will be allowed.

Four of the 27 super milestones concern the judiciary. One of the expected judicial reforms requires the Hungarian government to remove the possibility for public authorities to challenge final judicial decisions at the Constitutional Court. This is Super Milestone 216.

The joint assessment by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee in cooperation with Amnesty International Hungary and the Eötvös Károly Institute found that the first draft proposal of the Hungarian government, published in January 2023, fails to meet the requirements laid down by the European Commission and the Council. 

The three NGOs prepared a Q&A on the implementation of Super Milestone 216 – available here.

The Q&A brief explains in detail:

• what reform is expected under Super Milestone 216,
• how the reform is proposed to be implemented by the Hungarian government,
• whether the offered implementation would achieve the expected reform,
• how the expected reform should be implemented, and
• why is it problematic from the perspective of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU to maintain the right to a fair trial for public authorities in cases where they are exercising their public authority?