Péter Magyar has announced that a further EUR 2 billion in European Union funding is to be unlocked for Hungary, adding to a package worth more than EUR 16 billion that he says was secured during talks in Brussels.
Péter Magyar unlocked even more money
According to the Hungarian Prime Minister, additional EU funding could be released following what he described as “last-minute” negotiations. Magyar met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Friday, where the pair reportedly agreed on the release of more than EUR 16 billion in funding. The newly announced EUR 2 billion would be added to that total.
According to hvg.hu, Magyar hailed the outcome as a historic victory after difficult negotiations. In a Facebook post, he vowed to bring home every euro owed to Hungary. Following lengthy talks in Brussels, the two leaders reportedly agreed to unlock EUR 16.4 billion in EU funding. Of that sum, EUR 10 billion would come from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), EUR 4.2 billion from cohesion funds, and a further EUR 2.2 billion earmarked for Hungarian universities.
In a separate post on Saturday, Magyar announced an additional EUR 2 billion for Hungary, although he did not specify where the funding would come from or how it would be spent. Hvg.hu said it had sought clarification from the government but had not received an official response.
EU funds frozen before due to lack of transparency, dismantled democracy
EU funds were frozen by the European Commission over concerns about corruption and the rule of law under Viktor Orbán’s government. Brussels argued that a series of measures had undermined democratic institutions and transparency, and imposed a number of conditions that Hungary would need to meet before the funds could be released. Successive Orbán governments failed to satisfy those requirements, leaving large sums of EU money inaccessible.
The loss of EU funding has weighed heavily on the Hungarian economy in recent years. Despite hopes within the Orbán administration that Chinese, Russian and other alternative sources of financing would help revive growth, those expectations largely failed to materialise. Hungary’s prolonged economic stagnation contributed significantly to Mr Orbán’s electoral defeat and to Magyar’s landslide victory, which delivered 141 seats in the 199-seat parliament.
The result has given Magyar a commanding parliamentary majority, enabling him to pursue sweeping constitutional and institutional reforms over the next four years, including the possibility of drafting a new constitution and reshaping key state institutions.
Check out the details: Historic agreement between Péter Magyar and Ursula von der Leyen about unlocking billions of euros
Orbán says Magyar gave up Hungarian interests for the money
Throughout the election campaign, Magyar repeatedly pledged to secure the release of all frozen EU funds, arguing that the Hungarian economy urgently needed access to the money.
Orbán claimed on Friday that Magyar’s success in Brussels had come at the expense of Hungary’s national interests. He suggested that the new government would be forced to accept migrant quotas, promote LGBTQ policies, and scrap a range of state intervention measures, including price controls and utility subsidies.
Magyar rejected the accusations, saying that von der Leyen had demanded only that his government dismantle what he described as the corruption networks established under previous Orbán administrations — a task, he said, he would undertake willingly.
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Zero Forints.
People like Steiner must be going out of their minds. What a terrible thing according to Orban and his band of things that Hungary is now getting a total of 18.4 billion euros that thief Orban could never get because he refused reforms. The only conditions are anti-corruption and Rule Of Law reforms and those are in everyone’s interest. Orban is standing with his pants down crying about things that are completely meaningless and non-existent. No one is going force migrants on Hungary and the ending of persecution of the LGBTQ community is not going to cause the collapse of society. Oh yeah, and “utility bills”. Are people nuts? 18.4 BILLION EUROS! Tell Orban to go f*ck himself.
I guess any opposition party at all needs to come up with a narrative to counteract the embarrassing fact that a 3 week old government comprised of civilians with almost no political experience accomplished that which the previous government was unable to do in 4 years, despite the benefit of 12 years of experience in government already in the bag when negotiations commenced.
The biggest problem for Orban and the rest of the Fidesz kleptocrats is that Hungary is getting 18.4 billion euros and they have no control to steal as much as of it as they can for own pockets. That is terrible! Hungary should not get money like that without the kleptocrats getting their cut.