BUDAPEST, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian Ministry of Interior rejected the criticism of the Council of Europe on the handling of corruption issues, but vowed to work together with the international organization, according to official sources here on Friday.
"The government considers it an important achievement that Hungary has implemented the recommendations of the reports where the said recommendations address a real problem. Hungary, with the measures it has already taken, is in the frontline of international comparisons: it has complied with all the recommendations on criminal acts of corruption and has overtaken many EU Member States in other areas," the Ministry of Interior informed in a statement.
"The government has taken a number of measures to curb corruption. Today, penalties are heavier, public procurement rules are stricter than before, and, unlike left-wing governments, laws also provide greater transparency. The success of these efforts is signaled by the fact that the amount of state assets has increased significantly over the recent years," the statement added.
The Hungarian government made the statement in reaction to a report of the Council of Europe on Hungary released on Thursday.
The report criticized the Hungarian government over corruption issues: "A report published today by the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) concerning corruption prevention with respect to members of parliament, judges and prosecutors determines that only five out of 18 recommendations that had been issued four years ago have been implemented to a satisfactory level."
In its report, GRECO concludes that Hungary's level of compliance with the recommendations is "globally unsatisfactory" and the country will therefore remain subject to GRECO's non-compliance procedure.
The experts also deem "particularly disappointing" that in too many cases, no further information was provided by the Hungarian authorities other than that "no further progress had been made" in almost a year and a half since the adoption in 2017 of a compliance report concerning the 2015 recommendations.
The Hungarian government reserved itself the right to act according to its own interests: "In all cases, the government acts in the best interests of the country when transposing the recommendations. It therefore reserves the right to assert its position in the event of disagreement."
Nevertheless, the Ministry of Interior underlined the importance of pursuing the cooperation with the Council of Europe: "The fight against corruption is in the common interest, and the government will continue to work with GRECO representatives."
