BUDAPEST, March 8 Hungary received 75.2 million euros of previously blocked funds from the European Union; in total, since December, Budapest has returned 1.4 billion euros as part of operational programs and funds EU cohesion, said Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga.
“Funding in the amount of 75.2 euros has now arrived for our investments for the green and digital transition. We are using this money as part of the operational program for environmental protection and energy efficiency,” Varga wrote on Facebook*.
Varga also recalled that taking into account the money received on Friday, the amount of money received by Hungary from EU cohesion funds for 2021-2027 has increased to 1.22 billion Euro.
According to him, since December, Hungary has already received more than 550 billion forints (1.39 billion euros) from previously blocked resources.
Before the start of the EU summit in mid-December 2023, the European Commission announced that it had unexpectedly received the latest clarification from Budapest on its claims on rule of law issues in this country, and was ready to release 10.2 billion euros, which is about a third of the total number of Hungarian funds held.
In mid-September 2022, the European Commission proposed launching a special conditionality mechanism in relation to Hungary to ensure the protection of the EU budget “from violations of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary.” This meant freezing some 7.5 billion euros of EU funding for Budapest. This mechanism, designed to protect the community budget from corruption, was activated for the first time in two years of its existence. Subsequently, the EC decided to maintain its original proposal to suspend 65% of obligations to pay Hungary funds from certain general funds of the European Union, although Orbán stated that Budapest had fulfilled the entire list of the Commission’s demands, which related to measures to combat corruption, increase the transparency of public procurement, strengthen the independence of the judiciary systems.
*The activities of Meta (social networks Facebook and Instagram) are prohibited in Russia as extremist.