Orbán’s winning scheme: Hungarian government will receive EUR 13 billion by 2024?

Hungary should have received billions of euros from at least two main EU funds. One is the RRF of which EUR 5.7 billion Hungary is entitled to. The other is a development fund of EUR 21 billion. If everything goes smoothly, Hungary may get EUR 13 billion from the former bag soon.

According to g7.hu, the Hungarian parliament accepted a judicial reform package in May. The government sent it to the European Commission to check it out and answered all its questions. If the EC gives the green light, Hungary will get access to EUR 13 billion of the development fund. To get the remaining EUR 9 billion and an additional EUR 5.7 billion (from the recovery and resilience – RRF – fund), the government must fulfil a prerequisite system of 27 obligations.

János Bóka, the minister responsible for EU affairs, said before that Hungary should expect EU money from July 2024. Before, PM Orbán highlighted a lot would depend on the results of the Polish elections. We know that Orbán’s Polish allies suffered a defeat, and their adversaries will form a government soon in Warsaw. That is bad news for the Fidesz, which may remain without veto allies in the European Council. The only hope for Orbán is Slovakia’s newly-elected Robert Fico, but he will probably not go into fire for Hungary’s euro billions.

Minister: Peacemaking top priority for Hungary

Hungary regards peacemaking as a top priority and a key plank of its security, the justice minister said in Luxembourg on Friday.

Bence Tuzson told Hungarian journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union justice ministers that Hungary stood by everyone hit by the latest flare-up of terrorism.

“Hungary considers it extremely important to fight terrorism in all areas, including terrorism that has flared up in Europe,” he said.

Answering a question on Hungary’s judicial reform, the minister said “Hungary has successfully concluded relevant talks and closed the issue.” The Hungarian government had taken all necessary measures and answered all questions by the European Commission, he said, adding that the obstacles preventing community funding from being paid out to Hungary had been removed.

Similarly, he said the Hungarian government had “done what it had been requested” concerning the rule of law in the country. “The ball is with the EC … it is now that body in Brussels that needs to fulfill its obligations,” he said. He added, however, that “we Hungarians will only meet requests that would not compromise national interests”.

Concerning priorities for the Hungarian EU presidency in the second half of next year, Tuzson said Hungary would work to “reinforce legal aspects of the EU’s competitiveness”.