Decision on measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary: List of FAQs available

Based on the 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, effective as of 16th December 2022, no legal commitments shall be entered into with any public interest trust established on the basis of the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity maintained by such a public interest trust.

While the purpose of this decision is to protect the Union budget and not to exclude these entities from participation in Union programmes, the Commission has prepared a list of FAQs on how this decision affects their participation in Horizon Europe actions. This list will be updated in reaction to further questions on the subject matter. So far:

• the Hungarian public interest trusts established under Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain are still eligible to submit proposals and such proposals remain admissible and will be evaluated
• during the grant agreement preparation phase the Commission will follow the same approach as for the UK applicants until the temporary measures are lifted, i.e. the concerned Hungarian partner may contribute to the project as an associated partner or the consortium is given time to rearrange itself and replace the Hungarian partner by existing or new partner(s)
• even if the Grant Agreement is signed during the temporary measures take effect, once they are lifted the concerned Hungarian entity may re-join the consortium as a beneficiary, including the case when its status had been associated partner originally