Multiple Western news outlets, such as the German DW and the British Financial Times, have reported that Hungary has permanently lost access to €1 billion in EU funds after failing to remedy ‘rule of law breaches’. The sum in question had to be allocated by the end of 2024, and cannot be accessed after the deadline.
According to these reports, Brussels gave the Orbán administration until 2024 to fix ‘systemic corruption problems,’ which it failed to do in its assessment.
However, Minister of EU Affairs János Bóka of Hungary is not conceding that Hungary has lost its right to claim any of the frozen EU funds. In a Facebook post published on 31 December 2024, he wrote:
‘The Hungarian government has met all the conditions for access to EU funds. Brussels wants to take away the resources that Hungary and the Hungarian people deserve for political reasons. But as long as Hungary has a national and sovereign government, it will not lose a single euro cent. The Hungarian government has already gained access to more than €12 billion in EU funds through a tough fight. We are among the top Member States in the efficiency of the use of this money. Hungary will use all legal and political means to obtain the remaining funds.’
Brussel’s official reasons for withholding Hungary’s due funding have always been suspect to questioning.
The EU Commission first froze COVID-19 recovery funds due to ‘rule of law concerns’ in the summer of 2021, just when the Orbán administration was receiving heightened scrutiny from the Western mainstream press and liberal politicians for passing the Child Protection Act.
In a similarly suspicious manner, Poland had all of its rule of law assessment mechanisms stopped and funding released after the centre-left Tusk government took over the power from the right-wing populist Morawiecki administration in December 2023. That is despite the fact that the new Polish government made multiple controversial moves potentially violating the country’s contribution, such as defunding the state media for political reasons and prosecuting members of the opposition who had already received presidential pardons.
In December 2023, the EU announced the release of €10 billion of Hungary’s frozen funds. This came just before Prime Minister Orbán decided not to block the EU accession talks and to grant €50 billion in aid to Ukraine, which also suggests the possibility of a ‘backroom’ compromise. Now, the Algerian news site Al24news.com reported on the latest developments with the headline ‘Hungary to Lose Over $1Bln from EU Funds Due to Ukraine Funding Blockage’. However, they did not elaborate on that proposition in their brief reporting; and no other news site claims that that is the reason for the permanent loss of access.
To fight back, Budapest has previously stated that they are willing to sue the EU for reimbursement for the costs incurred for protecting the Union’s external borders. According to the Financial Times’ numbers, around €19 billion remains of Hungary’s frozen EU funds; after the release of €10 billion in December 2023 and the permanent loss of €1 billion in December 2024.
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