Hungary’s new government has stopped a 2026 agricultural machinery spubsidy programme reserved exclusively for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity, Republika Srpska. The scheme was part of a EUR 100 million support package announced by former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Milorad Dodik in 2022, but its future – and the fate of the remaining funds – remains unclear.
Subsidy programme that Viktor Orbán started ends now
According to Radio Free Europe’s Balkan Service, the Progressus Foundation, which administered the programme in Republika Srpska, announced on 16 October that it was suspending the latest grant call after the new Hungarian government halted its funding.
The call, launched on 13 March 2026, was open for only five days due to exceptionally high interest. A total of 1,025 applications were submitted from Republika Srpska and the Brčko District. Farmers could have received grants ranging from EUR 2,500 to EUR 25,000, but applicants will now be informed that the call has been cancelled.
Neither the Hungarian government nor the Central European Economic Development Network (CED), which managed the programme on Hungary’s behalf, had explained the decision or clarified whether the funding could resume by the time Radio Free Europe published its report.
More than EUR 28 million already spent
The programme was announced in 2022 by then Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Milorad Dodik, at the time the president of Republika Srpska. Although the wider package was worth EUR 100 million, at least EUR 28 million had been spent on agricultural machinery, equipment and tools by the end of the first two rounds in 2022 and 2023.
Farmers in Republika Srpska contributed an additional EUR 12.9 million of their own money, bringing the total value of purchases to more than EUR 39 million. In total, 1,959 projects were approved.
The scheme did not provide farmers with cash grants directly. Instead, they could apply for support to purchase machinery and equipment manufactured exclusively in Hungary, provided they covered at least 30% of the investment themselves. They also had to pay Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 17% import VAT.
Farmers left disappointed as questions remain
Some farmers had already set aside their own money for the latest round. Slaviša Simojlović, a farmer from Bijeljina, told Radio Free Europe that he had secured around EUR 8,000 for new machinery and expected the foundation to return the money he had invested if the programme was cancelled.
The president of Republika Srpska’s Association of Agricultural Producers, Stojan Marinković, said farmers were disappointed, particularly after benefiting from the first two rounds.
However, the programme’s economic purpose has also been questioned. Admir Čavalić, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Tuzla, told Radio Free Europe that the scheme was not a conventional development grant, as farmers could only buy Hungarian-made products and had to contribute their own money. He argued that it could also be viewed as a way of promoting Hungarian exports.
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The end of an Orbán-Dodik partnership?
The programme was part of broader economic and political cooperation between Orbán and Dodik, which included a EUR 126 million loan from Hungary’s state-owned EXIM Bank to Republika Srpska in 2022, as well as planned energy and infrastructure investments.
Dodik left the entity’s presidency in 2025 after a final court ruling sentenced him to one year in prison and barred him from holding public office for six years.
The cancellation of the 2026 agricultural programme marks another change in Hungary’s relationship with Republika Srpska following the change of government in Budapest. However, it remains unknown what will happen to the unspent portion of the original EUR 100 million package or whether any of the other planned projects will continue.
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