Hungary to come clean to Brussels within a month

The amendment of the law on the judiciary ensures that Hungary will comply with all requirements for the disbursement of European Union cohesion funds “within weeks”, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.

Although the “demands were baseless”, Hungary has complied and often exceeded requirements, Gergely Gulyás told a regular press conference. “In about a month’s time, we hope to be able to send invoices to Brussels and get payment in return,” he said.

The funding would flow from sections of the EU’s budget for the 2021-2027 financial cycle that do not fall under the conditionality procedure regarding the state of the rule of law but from its Resilience and Recovery Facility set up against the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic Gulyás said.

The government aims to ensure access to all resources, he added. “There is serious opposition to that in Brussels and among Hungary’s leftist opposition, but we ask them to stand on the side of Hungarian teachers, health care and economy,” he said.

The government is extending a freeze on interest rates for small and medium-sized companies and will keep it in place until the base rate drops under 10 percent, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a regular press briefing on Thursday.
The freeze was set to expire on June 30, Gergely Gulyás noted.

The pace of inflation and, consequently, the base rate make it impossible to scrap the measure, he said.

As soon as the central bank base rate drops under 10 percent, the government will phase out the freeze on interest rates. The government expects inflation to fall into single digits by the end of the year, he said.

Source: MTI