{"id":992427,"date":"2026-05-29T14:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/992427\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:45:14","slug":"eu-to-unlock-16-billion-euros-for-hungary-as-magyar-pushes-ahead-with-post-orban-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/992427\/","title":{"rendered":"EU to unlock 16 billion euros for Hungary as Magyar pushes ahead with post-Orban reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> said Friday the bloc would unlock more than \u20ac16 billion ($19 billion) for Hungary<\/a>, as she praised early progress on reforms under the country’s new leadership<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The European Commission<\/a> president announced the release of funds frozen under the divisive rule of former prime minister Viktor Orban<\/a> after talks with his pro-Europe successor Peter Magyar<\/a> in Brussels.<\/p>\n

“We can already feel a strong wind of change across Hungary,” von der Leyen told a press conference.<\/p>\n

“In only a few weeks, you have driven forward long overdue reforms,” she told the conservative leader.<\/p>\n

Read moreDismantling Orban\u2019s legacy: the reforms that lie ahead for Hungary<\/a><\/p>\n

The announcement is a big win for the conservative Magyar, who defeated longtime nationalist leader Orban in an election in April, and has been eager to show progress in securing the badly needed money<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The EU froze around \u20ac18 billion ($21 billion) in funds earmarked for Budapest because of democratic backsliding, tackling graft and the treatment of LGBTQ issues under Orban’s rule.<\/p>\n

The money could help Magyar revive Hungary’s flagging economy and generate goodwill as Brussels seeks to push ahead with files previously blocked by Budapest, such as membership talks with Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0new\u00a0government\u00a0inherited\u00a0a\u00a0swelling\u00a0budget\u00a0deficit\u00a0that according to the Commission might reach 6.2 percent of GDP\u00a0in\u00a0\u200b2026 after\u00a0heavy\u00a0pre-election\u00a0spending\u00a0by Orban.<\/p>\n

“We\u00a0will\u00a0bring\u00a0\u200bthis\u00a0money\u00a0home,\u00a0as\u00a0we\u00a0promised,\u00a0to\u00a0rebuild Hungary, to jump start the economy, to restore and develop public services, and to strengthen the competitiveness of Hungarian companies and\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0medium-sized\u00a0enterprises,” Magyar told the news conference.<\/p>\n

Read moreNew Hungarian PM Magyar’s hunt for Orban allies has already begun<\/a><\/p>\n

The bulk of the frozen funds \u2013 just over \u20ac10 billion of the total \u2013 are from the EU’s Covid recovery fund, and Hungary had until the end of August to present a new plan to secure them.<\/p>\n

Their release was “subject to the reforms that are being adopted” and the implementation of a series of investments that have been agreed on, von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n

In a similar scenario, the EU had unlocked billions of euros for Poland<\/a> in 2024 as soon as the government of pro-European Prime Minister Donald Tusk<\/a> offered assurances that change was afoot.<\/p>\n

While in power, Orban, a self-described “thorn” in the EU’s side who maintained close ties to Moscow, kept the Constitutional Court, Public Prosecutor’s Office and Court of Audit on a tight leash and appointed allies to run them.<\/p>\n

Magyar, whose party holds a large majority in parliament, has begun initial reforms \u2013 with his camp voting Wednesday to drop Orban’s plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC<\/a>).<\/p>\n

And in another significant move, Hungarian police said Friday they would not ban next month’s Pride parade in Budapest \u2013 a reversal from last year when the LGBTQ event was barred under Orban.<\/p>\n

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday the bloc would unlock more than \u20ac16 billion ($19…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":992428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,2190,11854,1781],"class_list":["post-992427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-hungary","tag-peter-magyar","tag-viktor-orban"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116658407262295755","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}