Hungary will get billions of euros from the EU soon?

Judit Varga, Hungary’s justice minister, announced last week that the Hungarian government and the European Commission signed a technical agreement last month about opening EUR 13 billion from the EUR 22 billion EU funds. However, Brussels waits for the Hungarian justice reform. Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn arrived in Budapest to negotiate about the EU funds with PM Viktor Orbán.

According to the MTI, Orbán had talks with Hahn today. The meeting was attended by Regional Development Minister Tibor Navracsics, Justice Minister Judit Varga and her deputy, János Boka. Hungary may receive EUR 13 billion out of the altogether 22 billion provided the European Commission accepts the steps the cabinet did to fulfill Brussels’s requests concerning judicial reform, academic freedom, or the operation of courts. And what will happen with the remaining EUR 9 billion? That is blocked by the rule-of-law conditionality procedure launched against Hungary, portfolio.hu wrote.

Mihály Varga and Johannes Hahn:

Johannes Hahn and Judit Varga:

Finance Ministry: EC ‘owes significant amounts’ to Hungary

The European Commission “owes significant amounts of money” to Hungary, and is hindering the country’s economy, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said on Tuesday, after talks with Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, MTI wrote. Besides calling for its funding from the European Union’s Resilience and Recovery Facility (RRF) to be released, Hungary also “expects answers on how the Commission is planning to support the countries protecting the borders of the Schengen Area in financing growing migration-related costs,” the ministry cited Varga as saying.

The RRF has “not fulfilled its initial promise”, he said, arguing that five member states had yet to receive funding, which, he said, had an impact on Hungary and Europe’s competitiveness. Had Hungary received the monies it is entitled to, its economy would have grown by more than 5 percent last year, Varga said. Despite the delay, the war in Ukraine and “sanctions-related inflation”, Hungary’s economy expanded by 4.6 percent while the budget deficit and the state debt were reduced, he added. Hungary’s budget is “steadfast” amid crises and a dangerous international environment, he said.

Meanwhile, “our expenses in border protection will be over 650 billion forints [EUR 1.7bn], of which the EU has only contributed some 1 percent since 2015,” he said. Regarding support for Ukraine, Varga told Hahn that Hungary had launched the largest humanitarian action of its history and has ploughed some 40 billion forints into aid for the war-torn country. At the same time, a loan taken out jointly by EU countries is not the long-term solution for supporting Ukraine, he said.

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