OECD scraps anti-bribery mission to Hungary in unprecedented move

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday it had cancelled a mission to Hungary to discuss anti-bribery measures, citing the government's failure to act on its previous recommendations.

The OECD said it was the first time such a high-level mission had been called off.

The meeting had been scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday but was cancelled over what the OECD described as the inability of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government to secure sufficient representation of ministers and senior officials for the event.

"The high-level mission decided on by the Working Group on Bribery in December 2023 was meant to address the Government of Hungary's failure to make tangible progress in addressing long-standing recommendations," the OECD said.

These related to what the OECD described as the Hungarian government's lack of understanding of foreign bribery risk exposure and the absence of a strategy for detecting and investigating foreign bribery cases.

A Hungarian government spokesman said the OECD working group would be hosted at the ministerial level at an unspecified later date. He did not comment on the OECD's broader criticism about a lack of progress on implementing past recommendations.

Orban, in power since 2010, has previously said Hungary is no more corrupt than other member states of the European Union.

The OECD said some of its recommendations date back more than a decade.

"The Working Group also remains seriously concerned about Hungary's low level of foreign bribery enforcement," it said.

The OECD said it would implement additional measures for the Hungarian government to re-engage at an appropriate level and introduce a draft plan of proposed steps to address the shortcomings its working group has identified.