The Authority has published the full letter regarding its proposed legal amendments

The Integrity Authority, in relation to an article originally published on 444.hu about a letter written by the Authority’s President to the Ministry of Justice, has requested the following to ensure comprehensive and balanced information:

‘Dear Editorial Board, Dear Balázs Kaufmann,

In the interest of balanced reporting, I am hereby asking you to publish the letter addressed to the Minister of Justice, which you referenced in both the headline and text of your article (https://444.hu/2025/02/19/mentelmi-jogert-lobbizott-az-integritas-hatosag-mostanra-tobb-buncselekmennyel-is-meggyanusitott-elnoke), in full as soon as possible. To this end, I am sending the document attached.

The letter clearly shows that its purpose was to request the amendment of the Integrity Authority Act and related legislation, with the aim of expanding the powers of the Integrity Authority regarding the prevention, detection, and correction of infringements and irregularities in the financial use or oversight of European Union funds. Six of the seven pages detail these powers (e.g. access to data, strengthening investigatory powers, enforcing recommendations, mandating compliance systems for organisations), with one page addressing presidential powers – the latter being the subject of your article.

The issue of expanding powers has been consistently represented by the Authority’s President in public for the past year and a half, and he has spoken publicly about the proposed amendments, submitted in this letter to the Ministry of Justice, multiple times. The requested legislative amendments are based on the experiences of similar international institutions, as detailed in the Authority’s annual report to the Hungarian Parliament from last year, and the Authority aimed to incorporate these into the Hungarian legal system.’

The Authority has sent this letter, containing this information, to every editorial office that published the article or summarised its content.

The letter to the Ministry of Justice regarding the legal amendments is also available on the Authority’s website.