ARCHIVE – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives at the European Council building in Brussels for an EU summit. Photo: Omar Havana/AP/dpa
Keystone
Hungary has lost its entitlement to billions in EU aid due to breaches of the rule of law. In order for the money to be released, the country would have had to implement reform requirements by the end of 2025.
According to the European Commission, the funds that are no longer available amount to more than one billion euros that were earmarked for Hungary from programs to support structurally weak regions. The funds originally earmarked for 2023 had been frozen because the Commission had come to the conclusion following analyses that Hungary was disregarding various EU standards and fundamental values.
The violations identified included shortcomings in the awarding of public contracts and the fight against corruption, conflicts of interest and the actions of the public prosecutor’s office.
MEP: Voters can put an end to the mafia system
“Those who undermine the EU rule of law cannot expect to continue receiving EU billions”, commented German FDP MEP Moritz Körner. The final loss of funds shows that the so-called rule of law mechanism is not a paper tiger. It protects taxpayers throughout Europe.
Green politician Daniel Freund commented that the loss of the funds was terrible for all the Hungarians who deserved better hospitals, more modern schools and fast internet. However, the people now have the chance to “put an end to the mafia system and fire Orban” in the parliamentary elections in April. He is responsible for the situation because he does not comply with EU law and puts EU money into his oligarch friends’ and family’s pockets.
Further losses loom
If Hungary continues to fail to implement sufficient reforms, it could lose billions more in the future. According to the rules of the EU rule of law mechanism in force since 2021, frozen funds expire at the end of the second calendar year after the year for which they were earmarked – unless the EU Council of Ministers lifts the blockade.
According to the Council of Member States, a total of around €6.3 billion was frozen for Hungary at the end of 2022 via the mechanism from the EU’s multi-annual budget from 2021 to 2027. The first tranche, also amounting to just over one billion euros, expired at the end of 2024 because Budapest failed to implement the necessary reform requirements.
Further billions of euros for the country are also partially blocked by other regulations. According to the Commission, a total of around 17 billion euros was recently frozen. Hungary’s economic output in 2024 was around 205 billion euros.