Hungary is heading to Brussels to negotiate billions in EU funding
Hungary is preparing for a new round of negotiations with the European Union on the release of billions of euros in frozen funds. The country’s prime minister is set to travel to Brussels next week to discuss the conditions for accessing the funds, according to Politico.
Hungary’s foreign minister announced the prime minister’s planned visit to Brussels, where he is set to hold talks with the European Commission on unblocking EU financial aid. “One of our most important tasks in the first few months is to gain access to the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which amounts to 10.4 billion euros for Hungary. And yes, I can confirm that a meeting is scheduled in Brussels next week,” she said.
According to the foreign minister, expert-level consultations have already taken place in recent days between representatives of Hungary and the European Commission regarding the frozen funds. Budapest, as noted, is working to implement the so-called “milestones” and reforms necessary to gain access to the funding.
This refers, in particular, to EU requirements regarding the strengthening of the rule of law and guarantees of transparent use of funds without corruption risks. “This is about restoring the criteria of the rule of law. And it is about ensuring that money is spent transparently, completely free of corruption. And here it is important to emphasize that this was our electoral mandate. We ran on a specific platform…,” the Hungarian minister noted.
She added that the reforms being promoted by the government are fully consistent with both domestic political promises and the requirements necessary for access to European funds. EU funding was frozen due to Brussels’ concerns regarding Budapest’s compliance with EU norms, particularly in the areas of the judicial system and anti-corruption standards.
This concerns a portion of the COVID-19 recovery fund, which Hungary views as a key source of investment for its economy.
The talks in Brussels are expected to be another attempt by the parties to find a compromise on the conditions for unfreezing the funds, which remain one of the main issues in relations between Budapest and the EU.
Earlier, the Hungarian government commented on the massive attack by Russian drones on Zakarpattia, during which the region’s critical infrastructure was struck. Budapest described the situation in the border region as extremely alarming and announced that it was preparing urgent countermeasures.
Transcarpathiahas suffered the most massive attack by Russia since the start of the war — Regional Military Administration.
