On Tuesday, following talks with EU Director-General for Regional Policy Walter Deffaa, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár said that the standpoints of Brussels and Hungary in the Altus case have not come closer to each other. He emphasised that the Government cannot accept that a consortium led by Altus should receive funds worth EUR 5 million to review and monitor EU projects in Hungary, and therefore it will request a review of the decision.

Mr. Lázár was of the opinion that, when granting the company the project, the Commission did not take account of a conflict of interest and the company’s bias, as Altus only had to give a written statement on this.

“I believe that the European Commission has not proceeded with due diligence, and has made a grave mistake in accepting the company’s declaration”, the Minister said. He added that Mr. Deffaa does not agree with him on this issue, and has rejected these observations.

The Minister explained that he has requested access to all the documents of the project, and has asked the Director to make them public, but the Commission will not yet do so. Mr. Deffaa said that he will first have to consult with the Commission’s lawyers.

“As far as I know, all voting citizens – and therefore the Government too – must have the right to see this information”, Mr. Lázár stressed, expressing the hope that the Commission – which so keenly watches over the use of EU in Hungary – will not apply less strict rules on itself.

“The first cent paid [to Altus] will result in illegal party financing”, Mr. Lázár said, pointing out that the owner of Altus – former prime minister and current Member of Parliament Ferenc Gyurcsány – provides significant financial support to the opposition party led by him, the Democratic Coalition (DK). If money is given to Altus, it will be given to Ferenc Gyurcsány, and if it is given to him, the EU is effectively supporting the DK, the Minister said. At the same time, he said, Mr. Deffaa “was not open to this”, and has requested a written submission, which Mr. Lázár will submit on Wednesday. The Minister noted that if this situation applied to a Fidesz politician, it would also qualify as illegal party financing.

“This case could poison the otherwise constructive and valuable cooperation with DG Regional Policy”, Minister Lázár said. He pointed out that this is neither in the interest of the Government, nor of Brussels.

According to Mr. Lázár, it is possible that Mr. Gyurcsány and Altus will withdraw from the contract and forego the EUR 5 million fee. This would greatly ease the situation of both the Government and the Commission.

“Former prime minister Gyurcsány would demonstrate great wisdom and commitment to the country [with this gesture]”, Mr. Lázár said.

Meanwhile, DK has released a statement in which it has published a letter, which – according to the date – was written by Mr. Deffaa to Minister Lázár at the beginning of May. In this letter the Director-General states that the proposal of the consortium led by Altus was one of the three best offers, thus they have won the commission for the project – which does not include auditing or any other forms of supervisory tasks – in an open competition.

According to the letter, all members of the consortium had to give a declaration on the absence of any conflict of interest, and any other circumstances which could result in their exclusion from the application.

This provision also requires participants of the consortium to inform Brussels on all circumstances which could result in a conflict of interests. According to the statement, in Mr. Deffaa’s letter to Minister Lázár he wrote that “Furthermore, considering that the preparation of the study primarily consists of data collection, and does not involve forming political opinions, in this case a conflict of interest of this kind cannot arise. We cannot accept the assumption  that the Commission has not respected the principle of political neutrality”. He also voiced his concern about distortion of information regarding the contract, which – according to the letter – does not concern the auditing of a single Member State’s regulations, but data collection on all of the programme’s 28 Member States.

(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)