C 334/142
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
1.9.2022
(24)
Education outcomes in Hungary are below the Union average.
By the age of 15, basic skills are significantly below the Union and regional averages and have decreased over the last decade.
Contrary to European trends, early school leaving has not improved in the last decade: it was 12,0 % in 2021, above the Union average of 9,7 %.
Early school leaving is higher in the least developed districts, and six times higher among the Roma than the nonRoma.
The share of those aged 25 to 34 with a tertiary diploma has risen since 2010, but remains among the lowest in the Union.
Participation in adult learning is just over half of the Union average.
Digital skills are lacking, especially among poorer people.
In the lowest two income quartiles, only 13 % and 18 % of Hungarians have at least basic digital skills, which are among the lowest percentages in the Union.
Disadvantaged students have low chances of entering the higher educational tracks.
Inequality in education narrows the possibility for social mobility.
The low effectiveness and equity in the school system are likely to be linked to the low level of curricular autonomy, the lack of socioeconomic diversity within schools and low teacher salaries.
The shortage of teachers is increasingly a problem.
While aggregate indicators, such as the teacher-pupil ratio, do not signal acute shortages, more detailed analysis shows that shortages exist for specific subjects such as mathematics, science and foreign languages.
Teacher shortages are also linked to the fragmentation of the school system, as half of all primary and lower secondary schools have fewer than 150 pupils.
Schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils tend to suffer particularly from the lack of qualified teachers.
More than half of the graduates from teacher education end up in other careers due to the high workload and low pay of teachers, especially at the beginning of their career.
Moreover, the centralised management of schools leaves school heads with limited autonomy and tools to improve teaching quality.
(25)
Health outcomes lag behind most other Member States, reflecting both unhealthy lifestyles and the limited effec­ tiveness of healthcare provision.
The prevalence of smoking, alcohol use disorder and obesity is one of the highest in the Union.
Hungarians are among the most likely in the Union to suffer premature death due to bad air quality.
The number of avoidable deaths is one of the highest in the Union, partly due to inadequate screening and primary care management.
There are significant socioeconomic disparities in access to quality care, due to a sizeable shortage of healthcare staff, in particular general practitioners and nurses.
The hospital network is fragmented and has a high number of hospital beds.
Hungarian patients spend the longest time in hospitals across the Union, because the take-up of day surgery procedures has remained low in comparison with the Union average.
Recent reforms have encouraged general practitioners to cooperate, which would improve the service provision.
Significant measures were taken to eradicate gratuity payments and address shortages of doctors.
(26)
Deficient independent control mechanisms and tight interconnections between politics and certain businesses are conducive to corruption.
When serious allegations arise, there is systematic lack of determined action to investigate and prosecute corruption cases involving high-level officials or their immediate circle.
Accountability for decisions to close investigations remains a matter of concern as there are no effective remedies against decisions of the prosecution service not to prosecute alleged criminal activity.
The shrinking possibilities of civic oversight in the context of restrictions on media freedom, a hostile environment for civil society organisations and recurrent challenges in the application of the rules on transparency and access to public information further weaken the anti-corruption framework.
In December 2021, the government postponed the implementation of most measures in its anti-corruption strategy for the years 2020-22 (17).
(27)
The independence, efficiency and quality of the justice system are crucial to attracting business and enabling economic growth.
Concerns regarding judicial independence persist.
The National Judicial Council continues to face difficulties in counter-balancing the powers of the President of the National Office for the Judiciary.
The rules on electing the President of the Supreme Court create risks of political influence over the top court of the country.
The lack of transparency of the case allocation scheme does not allow parties to verify whether any undue discretion has been applied.
Questions have been raised regarding the role of the Constitutional Court, composed of members elected by Parliament without the involvement of the judiciary, in reviewing judgments of the ordinary courts.
(17) The Commission sent a notification letter to Hungary on 27 April pursuant to Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget (OJ L 433 I, 22.12.2020, p. 1).