Hungary joins EU prosecutor to secure €10 billion

For five years, Hungary refused to join the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), the EU body that can independently investigate fraud against the Union's budget. That refusal became shorthand for Budapest's resistance to outside oversight, and one reason Brussels kept billions in EU funds frozen. On 10 July, the European Commission confirmed Hungary as EPPO's 25th member (EU Law Live, Devdiscourse/Reuters). The decision takes effect on 2 August (eucrim). But Hungary has built none of the domestic machinery EPPO needs to open a single case.

Who gets to investigate

Hungary still has to decide who acts for EPPO at home. The Justice Ministry said on 22 July that a working group is preparing a constitutional amendment for autumn, setting rules for the European Prosecutor who would represent Hungary and the delegated prosecutors who would handle cases on Hungarian soil (24.hu). Criminal-procedure legislation is expected by early 2027.

The appointment chain runs through Brussels and Budapest both. Hungary nominates three candidates for its European Prosecutor seat. The Council of the EU (where national ministers meet) appoints one after consulting an independent panel. Delegated prosecutors then need to be embedded in the national system, and Hungarian police, audit bodies and courts must cooperate with them.

That chain is where independence lives or dies. If the selection rules give the government effective control over who fills these posts, EPPO's presence in Hungary becomes nominal. If the rules guarantee genuine independence, Budapest will have accepted a level of external scrutiny it resisted for half a decade.

The leverage behind the decision

Hungary's EPPO accession sits inside a negotiation over roughly €10 billion in frozen EU recovery and cohesion funds, blocked since 2022 over rule-of-law and anti-corruption concerns. The Council tied those financial measures directly to procurement irregularities and weak prosecutorial action (Council Decision 2022/2506).

EPPO membership addresses one condition among several. Hungary faces 27 reform milestones due by 31 August and must separately convince the Commission that the 2022 concerns have been remedied (EU Perspectives). The Commission's 2026 Rule of Law Report credited the EPPO move but warned that prosecution independence and high-level corruption enforcement still posed risks (European Commission). As we reported earlier this month, Hungary's own Integrity Authority found systemic overpricing built into public procurement even when legal procedures are followed (To Brief). No prosecutor's office can fix that alone.

What EPPO can and cannot reach

EPPO prosecutes crimes against the EU's financial interests: fraud involving EU spending or revenue, corruption linked to EU funds, and cross-border VAT fraud above a €10 million threshold (Regulation 2017/1939). Domestic corruption unconnected to the EU budget falls outside its mandate (Le Club des Juristes).

The cut-off date also limits reach. According to Quotidiano, EPPO gains competence over qualifying offences committed from 1 June 2021, when the office began operations elsewhere. Earlier conduct stays with Hungarian prosecutors.

Poland shows what operational membership looks like. After Warsaw joined EPPO following its own rule-of-law standoff, the office ran investigative measures in July 2026 in a Katowice customs and VAT fraud probe (EPPO). Romania offers a counterpoint: even with EPPO operational since 2021, the Commission's latest findings flagged weak progress on judicial corruption (G4Media). An EU prosecutor can open cases. It cannot rebuild a justice system.

The accession decision is a binding EU legal act, and EPPO's jurisdiction can reach back to mid-2021. The autumn constitutional amendment will show whether Péter Magyar's government has accepted outside prosecution as a real constraint, or as another condition to manage in the funds negotiation.