FT reported Hungary's loss of more than €1 billion of EU frozen funds

Hungary will lose more than €1 billion of frozen European Union (EU) funds due to concerns over the rule of law. This was reported by the Financial Times on December 31.

Budapest will be left without €1.04 billion of the frozen €6.3 billion, because according to the deadline set in the EU regulations, this amount should be allocated by the end of 2024. It is noted that in total, about €19 billion of EU funds remain frozen for Hungary.

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Earlier, December 6, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the country must receive all the blocked funds from the budget and funds of the European Union (EU), otherwise Budapest will use the right of veto and block the draft long-term budget of the community for the next seven years.

Before that, on November 18, European Union (EU) diplomacy chief Josep Borrell admitted that he was unable to unblock arms supplies to Ukraine through the European Peace Facility. It was specified that he had made promises that by the end of his mandate he would be able to unblock more than €5bn worth of arms supplies through the European Peace Facility, which Hungary has been blocking for more than a year.

In June, an EU court in Luxembourg sentenced Hungary to a €200 million fine and daily payments because of its refusal to comply with decisions related to violations of EU-wide rules on the reception of migrants. Budapest said it would not succumb to the EU's financial blackmail and would not change its migration policy.

Against the backdrop of these disagreements, the Hungarian authorities also threatened to charge the European Commission in court €2 billion in border protection costs. In turn, the EC announced on September 18 that it plans to deduct the amount of the unpaid fine from the funds allocated to the country.