Hungary’s new government will have to work double time in order to obtain billions of previously frozen EU funds, following a political agreement with the European Commission on Friday (29 May).
“If every time I come here, I go back with this amount of money, I’ll be coming here more often,” Hungary’s prime minister Péter Magyar joked to reporters in Brussels at a press conference with commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
In reality, Magyar will only return to Budapest with an agreement to access €16.4bn in proposed funds, representing some 13 percent of Hungary’s total budget.
The challenges faced by Magyar’s Tisza government are considerable.
The €16.4bn is composed of €10bn in pandemic Covid-era funds, €4.2bn in cohesion funding, while the remaining €2.2bn is geared towards academic freedom. Most of that is in grants.
Gaining access to the funds, including the remaining €10bn will be tricky.
Hungary has a 31 August deadline to pass all the necessary reforms before the commission agrees to release the €10bn, which comprises €6.5bn in grants and €3.5bn in loans.