Hungary’s Recovery Spending Plan Approved

Regional Development Minister Tibor Navracsics and Minister of the Prime Minister’s office Gergely Gulyás held a press conference on Tuesday in Budapest, to explain the details of the agreement the Permanent Representatives reached earlier this week that may allow Hungary to access the frozen EU funds.

According to Minister Navracsics, EU ambassadors on Monday expressed a positive opinion of Hungary’s recovery plan. He added that the Hungarian government’s primary objectives have been to come to an agreement with the European Commission about the cohesion funds before 31 December, in order to prevent Hungary from losing funds permanently, as well as to have the country’s recovery plan approved. ‘All of the objectives we set for ourselves in June have been fulfilled’, he stated.

The Recovery Fund will disburse 2,300 billion forints (5.8 billion euros), Tibor Navracsics emphasized. Of that amount, 30 per cent will be used for the digital transition and 70 per cent to build renewable energy sources. Within the framework of operational programmes, a total of 14,000 billion forints (or around 33 billion euros) will become available, of which 4000 billion forints (or 9.5 billion euros) have already received the Commission’s approval.

No Corporate Tax Hike in Hungary

Both Minister Navracsics and Minister Gulyás emphasized that in terms of the global minimum tax, in Hungary, the business tax will be calculated into the corporate tax, which means that there will be no rise in the nine per cent corporate tax in the country.

Teachers’ Salaries May Increase in January

Minister Gulyás also stressed that as soon as the funds become available, the salary increase of educators will be implemented. If we have access to the funds on 1 January, the salary increase will happen as of that date. (Editor’s note: The government has pledged to raise the salaries of teachers in public education by 20 per cent.)

Poland Vetoes Global Corporate Tax Scheme, Hungary’s Money in Jeopardy Again

In a (seemingly) unexpected turn of events, Poland on Wednesday evening refused to back the package deal that would have allowed the disbursement of at least part of the frozen funds to Hungary, ‘over concerns about a separate minimum corporate tax rate plan’, POLITICO reported last night. Polish Prime MInister Mateusz Morawiecki is expected to bring up the matter at today’s meeting of EU leaders, even thought formally the issue is not on the agenda.