Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar could travel to Brussels in late May or early June for his first visit to the European Union institutions since taking office in early May, notably to finalise with European Commission discussions on amending Hungarian post-Covid-19 recovery plan (see EUROPE 13848/9).
“We aim to finalise the technical details as soon as possible with a view to the submission by Hungary of the recovery plan for revision at the end of May or the beginning of June”, European Commission spokesperson Maciej Berestecki said on Tuesday 26 May. He confirmed that the EU institution would reply “in due course” to a specific letter sent by Hungarian authorities.
Adopted in late 2022 by the EU Council (see EUROPE 13082/2), the Hungarian recovery plan, worth € 10.4 billion in grants, was partially implemented by the previous ‘Orbán’ government, notably through investments. However, it has not benefited from any disbursement of European funds, as all payments are conditional on completion of 27 preliminary measures (‘supermilestones’) designed to strengthen protection of EU financial interests and Hungarian judicial system.
The Hungarian authorities must therefore, in parallel, implement the 27 preliminary measures and amend the national recovery plan in order to negotiate with the Commission the investments and reforms already carried out, or which can still be carried out by the end of August, so as to benefit from the maximum amount of European funds. Another possibility would be to transfer certain European funds to other allocations for Hungary under other financial instruments, such as InvestEU, or to the national development bank, provided that the objectives of the Next Generation EU recovery plan are respected through these channels.
During his visit to Brussels, Mr Magyar is also expected to address the issue of Hungarian plan under the ‘SAFE’ instrument for lending to Member States to increase their defence spending, with a pre-allocated envelope for Hungary amounting to € 16.2 billion.
Linked to implementation of 27 preliminary measures, unfreezing of European cohesion funds is not a priority insofar as deadlines are linked to implementation of Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)