New historic low: Hungarians receive way lower minimum wage than Romanians

Based on the latest analysis of the Eurostat, the Hungarian minimum wage reached a new historic low in the European Union. In January, the Hungarian minimum wage was worth EUR 578.74 a month, preceding only Bulgaria (EUR 398.81).

Record low Hungarian minimum wage

According to mfor.hu, in 2022, Hungary preceded Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania regarding minimum wage. The reason is the weak forint. That is why the difference between the minimum wage between Hungary and most of the EU member states widened.

In 2022, the difference between the Romanian and the Hungarian minimum wage was 2.3 percent, which rose to 4.7 percent, positive for Romania. However, in Romania, the employees pay a 35 percent social security contribution, which is higher than Hungary’s 33.5 percent.

Luxembourg leads the list with EUR 2,387, while Germany is the second with almost EUR 2,000 per month. The third place went to Belgium with EUR 1,955.

Read also: Hungarian minimum wage is worth terribly little: even Romania is ahead of us

Fidesz: Recovery fund payments ‘extremely slow’

EU member states are experiencing a serious delay in EU post-coronavirus recovery payments, Fidesz MEPs Enikő Győri and Andor Deli said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ruling party MEPs noted that the European Parliament’s budget and economic and financial committees had asked the relevant EU commissioners to provide fresh information on recovery fund disbursements. Győri welcomed EU Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Paolo Gentiloni’s promise to Hungary that fund payments could start once agreed milestones were met. The commission does not plan to impose new conditions, she added. “Hopefully the European Commission sticks to its promise,” Győri said. “Hungary is fulfilling its commitments; now it’s Brussels’ turn.”

Read also: EU Council adopted Hungarian RRF plan: EUR billions almost unlocked

Deli said Hungary was striving to hit its new milestones and would meet all conditions contained in the previous agreement by March. By withholding recovery funds, the EU is creating unequal competitive conditions for Hungarian businesses and other beneficiaries, he said, urging the commission to provide a clear funds payment timetable.

Regarding RepowerEU funds that support investments to gain independence from Russian energy providers, he said the commission had promised to fast-track its assessment of the Hungarian plan and it would not impose new political conditions. Recovery and resilience funds were agreed on two years ago, yet only 95 billion of the available support of 338 billion euros has been paid to the member states, the Fidesz MEPs noted. When it comes to loans, only 47 billion euros out of 385 billion have been lent. Disregarding pre-financing, 16 member states have yet to receive funds, while 5 have not received pre-financing either, they added.

Hungary’s December trade deficit decreased by EUR 1.3 billion

Hungary posted a trade deficit of 154 million euros in December, down from 1.415 billion in November, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Wednesday in a first reading of the data. Exports grew by an annual 12.3 percent to 11.205 billion euros, while imports increased by 9.9 percent to 11.360 billion. Trade with other European Union member states accounted for 75 percent of Hungary’s exports and 67 percent in December.