Hungary is on track to fulfil all criteria needed to unlock €10 billion in EU recovery funds by the end-of-August deadline, Euronews understands from conversations with Commission and Budapest officials this week.
Meeting all milestones would clear the way for Hungary to access billions in EU cash before summer’s end, delivering a political win for the new government.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who won a landslide victory in April's election, ending Viktor Orbán's 16-year rule, campaigned on a promise to unlock Hungary's suspended EU funds.
In May, Magyar and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to release €16.4 billion in EU funds previously frozen over rule-of-law and corruption concerns under Orbán's government.
Of that, €10 billion is due from the EU's post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which expires later this year. A further €6.4 billion is earmarked for Hungary from the Cohesion Funds, which have no immediate deadline.
