Hungary's New Prime Minister Seeks to Unlock €10 Billion in Frozen EU Funds

Péter Magyar, Hungary's 45-year-old incoming prime minister whose Tisza party won 141 seats in a landslide election on April 12, traveled to Brussels to meet EU leaders including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in talks he called extremely constructive. Magyar's most urgent priority is unlocking €10.4 billion in Covid-19 recovery funds before they expire at the end of August, plus €6.3 billion in cohesion funds frozen over rule-of-law issues under Viktor Orbán's 16-year tenure. The EU has withheld funds due to democratic backsliding and corruption allegations, requiring Hungary to meet anti-corruption and judicial independence milestones set in 2022. The visit marks a potential reset in Hungary-EU relations after Orbán's anti-EU campaign, with Magyar planning to return May 25 to sign a political agreement and offering to meet President Zelensky in Ukraine in early June.

Péter Magyar's push to unlock frozen EU funds

• ▪Péter Magyar could have access to €16.1bn in cheap EU defence loans
• ▪Péter Magyar's most urgent priority is to unlock €10.4bn of the EU's Covid-19 recovery fund before it expires at the end of August
• ▪Péter Magyar said he would return to Brussels on 25 May to sign a political agreement
• ▪Péter Magyar met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in talks he called extremely constructive and successful
• ▪Péter Magyar's Tisza party won a landslide election on 12 April, sweeping away 16 years of rule by Viktor Orbán
• ▪Péter Magyar aims to unlock a further €6.3bn in cohesion funds that were blocked over Orbán-era rule-of-law issues
• ▪Péter Magyar will aim to put an end to a €1m daily fine that Budapest has had to pay for breaching EU migration rules

Conditions and reforms required for fund release

• ▪Ursula von der Leyen said the European Commission would support Péter Magyar's work to address issues and realign with shared European values
• ▪EU funds for Hungary have been frozen because of democratic backsliding and corruption allegations under Viktor Orbán's Fidesz-led government

Hungary's political transition and EU relations reset

• ▪Péter Magyar's Tisza party won 141 seats in the 199-seat National Assembly
• ▪Viktor Orbán accused Péter Magyar of being a puppet of Brussels
• ▪Viktor Orbán's veto on a €90bn loan to Ukraine was lifted last week at an informal EU summit
• ▪Péter Magyar met European Council President António Costa, who represents the EU's 27 member states
• ▪Péter Magyar has offered to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky early in June 2026 in the Hungarian-majority town of Berehove in south-western Ukraine
• ▪Viktor Orbán did not attend the informal EU summit where his veto on a €90bn loan to Ukraine was lifted
• ▪Péter Magyar is not due to be sworn in as Hungary's Prime Minister until 9 May

Perspective of Péter Magyar

• ▪Péter Magyar views unlocking the €10.4bn Covid-19 recovery fund before the August deadline as his most urgent priority

Perspective of European Commission

• ▪The European Commission set super-milestones involving anti-corruption and rule-of-law reforms as part of Hungary's 2022 post-Covid recovery plan