02/10/2025 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 2 October, the European Commission confirmed that it had approved the reallocation of €545 million from Hungary’s cohesion policy budget to new priorities under the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP). However, this does not mean that these amounts will be paid out automatically; certain conditions must be met, explained Balazs Ujvari, spokesperson for the Commission. In particular, Hungary will have to comply with the regulation on conditionality linked to the Rule of law. Part (€18 billion) of the European funds earmarked for Hungary has been frozen for several years due to concerns about the Rule of law (independence of the judiciary, fight against corruption and respect for fundamental rights - see EUROPE 13689/14). However, the Commission has acknowledged that a one-off pre-financing payment of 30% of the amount concerned, i.e. €163.5 million, will have to be made available to Hungary. (LC)