Madyar stressed that joining the department would be one of his first decrees needed to unfreeze €17 billion in EU funds previously blocked by Brussels due to problems with the rule of law in Hungary.
Madyar's decision opens the way to wide-ranging investigations into how European funds have been distributed in recent years. The prosecutor's mandate allows him to examine fraud in EU finances up to 2017, the period during which the most serious accusations against Orban's associates occurred. According to recent investigations, more than €28 billion in state tenders over the past 15 years were received by companies associated with a narrow circle of businessmen and friends of the former leader.
Brussels has greeted these promises with cautious optimism, setting the new government on a tight reform schedule until August. Joining the European Public Prosecutor's Office would require Hungary not only to formally notify the EU, but also to appoint independent delegated prosecutors not subject to Budapest's political influence.
Experts believe that without external verification and a real fight against corruption, Hungary will not be able to get out of the economic impasse and restore investor confidence.
