42. Daniel Freund on the rule of law mechanism to fight corruption in the EU

Daniel Freund (@daniel_freund) is a Member of the European Parliament and the parliamentary group’s rapporteur on attaching conditionalities of rule of law for dispersion of funds within the EU. Daniel outlines how he got interested in issues of (anti-)corruption starting with his work at Transparency International’s offices in Brussels. Daniel describes the general procedures of allocating funds within the EU, which loopholes for corruption exist and how the recent negotiations about conditionalities for rule of law could help to close these loopholes. The interview zooms in on the case of Hungary, explaining the challenges that independent media face and how the government has set up a system that raises several corruption red flags. Daniel outlines which steps need to be taken to reduce leakages of EU funds and the criteria that help to determine whether a government takes the necessary measures of good governance. Pick of Podcast: Bill Browder - Red Notice: http://www.billbrowder.com/ Further Reading: Media freedom in Hungary: https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/10/03/a-by-election-shows-why-hungarys-opposition-struggles Radio station, Klubradio, mentioned by Daniel, that is under pressure in Hungary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klubr%C3%A1di%C3%B3 Research paper on the link between media freedom and corruption: Starke, C., Naab, T. K., & Scherer, H. (2016). Free to expose corruption: The impact of media freedom, internet access and governmental online service delivery on corruption. International Journal of Communication, 10, 21. Explaining the European Parliament: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/faq/16/what-is-the-european-parliament Articles on the corruption allegations against the Hungarian government: https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/04/02/how-hungarys-leader-viktor-orban-gets-away-with-it Recent news on the conditionality of rule of law for fund dispersion in the EU: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20201104IPR90813/rule-of-law-conditionality-meps-strike-a-deal-with-council