With the ousting of Viktor Orbán from power in Hungary, the future Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, has set the release of European funds from the ‘RRF’ facility as a priority, which finances national post-Covid-19 recovery plans (€10.4 billion for Hungary), and from European cohesion funds (€7.6 billion), these envelopes having been suspended by the European Union for non-respect of the Rule of law and breaches of fundamental rights (see EUROPE 13847/1).
Mr Magyar has already had several meetings with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to this end.
Adopted at the end of 2022 by the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 13082/2), the Hungarian recovery plan has been partially implemented by the ‘Orbán’ government. However, apart from pre-financing specifically aimed at the ‘REPowerEU’ chapter devoted to reducing dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, the country has not received any disbursement of European funds.
All payments are subject to the implementation of “27 prior measures” (‘supermilestones’) designed to “strengthen the protection of the EU’s financial interests and the judicial system” in Hungary, said Maciej Berestecki, spokesman for the European Commission, on Tuesday 14 April. In his view, the Hungarian authorities have carried out reforms and made investments, notably at the end of 2023, but “the Commission has not yet assessed these measures, because no payment request has been made”.
Time is of the essence: in order to be eligible for support from the RRF, Hungary will have to finalise all the required prior measures and complete the reforms and investments set out in the recovery plan by the end of August 2026. And the European funds allocated must be used up by the end of the year. All Member States are subject to these rules.
Mr Berestecki said that the Commission had been in contact with the ‘Orbán’ government with a view to revising the Hungarian plan and streamlining it so that it could be finalised within the allotted timeframe. The future ‘Magyar’ government could resume this work and present its proposals as soon as possible: - an action plan to comply with the 27 ‘super milestones’; - a request to modify the Hungarian plan; - an initial payment request for reforms and/or investments already carried out.
It should also be noted that options exist for Hungary to transfer certain envelopes initially reserved for its post-Covid-19 recovery plan to other European entities or programmes (see EUROPE 13653/3).
M. Berestecki recalled that Member States can take the following measures: “- create financial instruments to incentivise private investment; - transfer funds to the national InvestEU scheme; - make equity injections to national promotional banks; - make voluntary contributions to one of the EU programmes which are aligned with the objectives of the RRF”.
Several Member States have already made use of these options (see EUROPE 13811/25).
After Donald Tusk came to power, the Polish government was able to release the European funds allocated to the national recovery plan in April 2024, with a commitment to carry out the necessary reforms (see EUROPE 13391/13). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)