The European Commission has informed of Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, on measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary.
Decision 2022/2506 stipulates that no legal commitments should be entered into with any public interest trusts established on the basis of Hungarian Act IX of 2021, nor with any entities held by such public interest trusts. Affected entities can be consulted here. It is progressively updated as new guidance becomes available at the following link.
This prohibition applies from December 16, 2022 and to the entire Union budget funding chain. That is to say, from that date the entities concerned cannot sign Grant Agreements, cannot participate as beneficiaries or affiliated entities, cannot sign contracts to provide goods and services to the project, cannot perform tasks via subcontracting, cannot receive financial support to third parties via cascade calls or prizes organized in the framework of a project, provide in-kind contributions in exchange for a consideration.
However, the entities concerned could participate as “Associated Partners”, i.e. by contributing to the project without receiving European funding. For these cases, the Hungarian government has established a guarantee mechanism to support the participation of Hungarian universities affected by Decision 2022/2506.
More information in the FAQ section.
