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Commission Report 2002 (Hungary)   
1.3. General evaluation![[*]](/bilder/icons/footnote.png){kind=icon} In its 1997
Opinion, the Commission concluded that Hungary fulfilled the political
criteria. Since that time, the country has made considerable progress in
further consolidating and deepening the stability of its institutions
guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for the
protection of minorities. This has been confirmed over the past year. Hungary
continues to fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria.
Public administration reform at central level has been completed to a large extent. In this respect, the 2001 Law on Civil Servants, partly enforced in 2002, was an important step forward in the consolidation of the legal framework for civil servants. Following a complex review of the salary structure, the gap between earnings in the public and private sector was further reduced. A financial reform of the local self-governments is still outstanding. Within the judiciary, the constitutional and legislative guarantees of judicial independence are well-established in Hungary and the system of judicial self-administration functions efficiently. The decisions to introduce the Regional Courts of Appeal and to strengthen the judiciary`s financial independence are important steps as regards the improvement of the judicial capacity. In line with its anti-corruption strategy, the Hungarian Government has continued to adopt a series of legal and practical measures to fight corruption, which remains a cause for concern. It is important that the new decisions be implemented quickly to better address the situation. Hungary continues to respect human rights and freedoms. In the area of public service media, political parties are again fully represented in the Supervisory Boards of Trustees. New steps were taken to improve social dialogue. With a view to addressing the difficult situation of the Roma, the implementation of the 1997 medium-term programme continued. The institutional framework has been further strengthened and a new monitoring system introduced. Still, Roma policy is not well integrated into general social development strategies and exists as a separate and parallel project. Roma continue to suffer discrimination. The Government is currently revising its Roma policy. The envisaged adoption of a comprehensive long-term strategy and comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation would be major steps forward in this regard. © European Commission; last modified 2003-05-21 |
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