The Hungarian Government is pleased to see the acceptance of the European Commission’s report on the fight against corruption. A great step towards battling such phenomena, as it raises awareness regarding harmful factors disrupting societies Europe-wide and the same time it shows the good practices what different countries have taken in the matter, being good examples for others.

The report acknowledges that with the Fifth Amendment of  the Fundamental Law, Hungary managed the worries raised beforehand by Brussels regarding justice. The whole nation should be proud that the European Commission recognized the preventive measures taken by the government as being true results of its initiated fight against corruption. The report emphasizes that Hungary strengthened its integrity training system; for which the innovative learning processes are supported by training programs and specific methodology. Since September 2013, knowledge on prevention of corruption and integrity became part of public administration courses and trainings covering topics of integrity and ethics have begun; which will empower 9,000 administrative and senior government officials. Anti-corruption measures are shown in the National Curriculum as well, which took effect in the autumn of 2013. In this spirit, addressing the problem of community and social corruption forms an important part of the education of ethics in all high school grades.

The battle against corruption has not ended yet though. The Government of Hungary is still committed to follow the steps taken towards the economic and moral well-being of citizens with the termination of the disrupting effect of corruption. In this sense party funding regarding political campaigns were tightened. The Government acknowledges the report as a leap forward, although it would be useful to see more detailed analyses to come with a deeper involvement of countries during preparation sessions.

It is clearly seen in the report that Hungary faces similar problems as any other country in the EU. The respective indicators do not deviate significantly from the mean scores of the EU member countries. It has to be noted that some figures show more favorable settings as the EU average. Clearly the gratuities in healthcare are the greatest challenges, but it is comforting that the population of Hungary trusts public institutions more than most of the EU citizens. The greatest rise of trust for such institutions was in Hungary since the compilation of the survey in 2011.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)