- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
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- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
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- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
Hungary gets damning EU rule-of-law assessment
Hungary falls well short of EU democratic standards, notably on corruption, bribery, political funding, conflicts of interest and lack of media independence, according to a European Commission evaluation published Thursday.
The damning assessment, contained in the commission's annual rule of law report for countries in the European Union and some hoping to join it, underlined a growing rift between Brussels and Budapest.
Hungary -- which currently holds the EU presidency -- has infuriated its EU partners on a range of issues.
They include perceived democratic backsliding in many domestic areas, stalling aid for Ukraine, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban conducting rogue diplomacy with Moscow to see on what terms the Kremlin might agree to end its war.
"Hungary is a real systemic issue for the commission about the rule of law," EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told a news conference presenting the report.
Not only has Budapest made minimal to no progress on rule of law breaches identified in the last annual EU report, but the commission has lengthened its total recommended remedies for Hungary to pursue to eight -- one more than last year.
"I think that's an absolute record for the rule of law report," one EU official said on condition of not being identified.
- 'High' corruption -
Hungarian public-sector corruption "remains high" in the view of experts and businesses, with high-level corruption in particular not being identified by prosecutors, the report said.
That was notable when it came to public spending, with the commission saying that "high corruption risks were identified in particular for the local level and municipalities, indicating examples of how political networks can lead to abuse of tender processes."
Transparency shortcomings on political party and campaign funding "remain unaddressed", the report said.
Media pluralism and freedom were also said to be under threat, with the composition of the media regulator and the lack of transparency on state advertising and media ownership all posing problems.
Additionally, when it came to checks and balances, "increasing state interventions and arbitrary decisions of the authorities weaken legal certainty and remain a problem for the operation of businesses in the (EU) single market," the report said.
Remedial steps made in some areas were for the most part timid, nonbinding or nonexistent, according to the report.
That stood in contrast with the overall rule-of-law report, which found that 68 percent of changes the commission had recommended in last year's document had been fully or partially addressed across all the countries scrutinised.
Brussels has already frozen billions in EU funds for Hungary over its backsliding on the bloc's standards, although it released 10 billion euros ($11 billion) of that money last year in controversial circumstances.
Reynders said the 10 billion euros was released because Budapest had cleared certain narrow tests on changes to its judiciary system.
But, he said, another 20 billion euros remained frozen until Hungary addressed rule of law concerns.
A legal procedure launched in 2018 and still wending forward theoretically could eventually lead to Budapest being stripped of its right to vote in EU matters.
Reynders said that procedure was continuing, and Brussels also has "a lot of infringement proceedings before the Court (of Justice of the EU) concerning Hungary".
The eight reforms the commission urged Hungary to undertake include improvements to its justice system, boosting oversight of lobbying and the independence of the media regulator, and removing obstacles encountered by civil society organisations.
R.J.Fidalgo--PC