00:00For the view from a former European commissioner that was actually in charge of rule of law and
00:03values, we're joined by Vera Jórova, the Czech politician who was vice president of the European
00:08Commission until 2024. Great to have you with us here in the studio. Good morning, thank you for
00:13having me. And of course you're very familiar with the issues in Hungary, you've followed them for
00:17many years as vice president there. Hungary now has a new government, Viktor Orbán seems to have
00:22disappeared. Your view on this new era? Well I was happy, I have to say, after the elections.
00:27Not only that Viktor Orbán is leaving after so many years and after what he has done to Hungarians,
00:37but I was happy that the democratic system worked. Changing of the guards happened in Budapest.
00:45And Peter Maia, the new prime minister, he was here in Brussels. There was a deal struck, he was here
00:49on
00:49Friday, they managed to unlock the funds, but he has a long list of reforms to do. Will he manage?
00:55It seems
00:55like mission impossible there if you listen to our correspondent. He has a long list of things to do
01:01in a very short time because most of the money should be used, committed and invested by August
01:09this year. So this is a very short deadline. Yes, a long list of things which should not be surprising.
01:17Yeah, because European taxpayers were urging us in the commission to do more to protect the money going
01:26to Hungary, not to pay the gifts for Viktor Orbán's families and friends.
01:32And there's a three-month deadline here. What happens if they don't reach the deadline?
01:35Well, I think that it is feasible to do some reforms in case the legislative process is fast. Of course,
01:45it would be difficult to fulfill something which needs more preparations. But as I said, Hungarians,
01:53the current government is not surprised. These are not new requests from Brussels.
01:58What would be the hardest? I think there are things relating to judiciary independence and
02:06division of powers between different layers of justice system. They should do changes in media world.
02:15And should more have been done before by the previous commission that you were in?
02:20We tried to convince Orbán's government to join the European public prosecutor's office.
02:31This was the main thing I wanted them to do. Because to protect the EU money…
02:37But they never listened to you. They didn't trust you. They didn't like you.
02:40You know, they didn't believe that this will go without any reaction if they didn't join. But after that,
02:48the reaction on it was the mechanism to freeze the money when the money is not protected enough.
02:55Another thing Hungary, of course, under Orbán was blocking was Ukraine's membership.
02:59This week, we're seeing António Kosz in the Western Balkans trying to put momentum on their
03:03potential membership. What is your view here? Who should be the next member to join the European Union?
03:07I spoke in recent weeks to many Western Balkans people and they are fed up to be
03:15what, 20 years in the waiting room. There must be some move. And over time, I see that more and
03:23more we need them to join, then they need Europe. This is obvious that we need to have courage to
03:30grow
03:30politically, geographically. We are under big pressure from outside.
03:33If you were a commissioner right now, that's my question. What would keep you up at night?
03:38What would keep me up at night? The state of democracy and rule of law in Europe in general.
03:46That's why, by the way, I'm here because I am launching today with my team the new project,
03:52Democracy 27, which is a citizen's initiative and which should complement what the commission is doing.
03:58But would it be China, Russia, Trump? In international foreign policy, honestly,
04:06it's the United States. Okay. Which scares me.
04:09Maria Rova, thank you so much for coming in to us here on Europe Today.
04:12I'll see you soon as we can see you soon.
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