Employee recreational bonus in Hungary

24.9.2018

Question for written answer E-004798-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Richard Sulík (ECR)

Under Hungarian law, an employer must provide its employees with a ‘recreational bonus’, which may be used to pay for domestic holiday packages, among other things, but not for foreign holidays. With a SZÉP card, services can be used from providers that have a contract on the basis of which they accept the SZÉP leisure card. The Court of Justice of the EU looked into these cards in Case C-179/14, but it focused on other aspects of SZÉP leisure card schemes.

Can the Commission say whether or not it is the case that an employee can only use this holiday bonus to cover the cost of a holiday in Hungary, but not one abroad, contrary to Article 19 of Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market, since this could be a direct or indirect discriminatory restriction on the granting of financial aid because the provider is established in another Member State, or due to the location at which the tourism service is provided?