Minister expects Hungary-EC agreement on funding transfers by year-end

The minister for regional development said on Tuesday that he trusted that an agreement with the European Commission allowing Hungary to receive all the European Union funding it is entitled to would be signed by the end of this year.

Commenting on reports that an agreement on the release of EU funds to Hungary may be in the pipeline, Tibor Navracsics told journalists that he had been optimistic in recent months about the progress of talks and today’s press reports confirmed this.

According to the Financial Times newspaper, citing three officials, the EC is considering unblocking funding of around EUR 13 billion to before the end of November.

In response to a question, the minister said the EC had been communicating its position through the press for some time, and no official contact had been made on the matter.

Reacting to the suggestion that funding transfers may be contingent on the Hungarian government approving an increase in the EU budget and hefty financial support for Ukraine, he said no such request had been received. He added that he did not believe the two issues were connected.

Answering a question, Navracsics confirmed that once the EU resources are transferred, teachers’ wage hikes would be made.

In response to a question about recovery funding, he said an agreement was signed on support last year, and talks were nearing completion on credit of HUF 1,500 billion (EUR 3.87 billion). He projected that an agreement on the latter may be completed in November and no resources would be lost.

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