Hungary and EU leaders discuss terms of release for billions in blocked funds

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Hungary's incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar on Wednesday (April 29) to discuss the terms of release for billions in blocked funds to Hungary.

Top EU officials and Hungary's incoming government will discuss on Wednesday the changes Budapest needs to push through to release 17 billion euros in EU funds that have been blocked due to rule-of-law concerns under the government led by the outgoing prime minister Viktor Orban. Some of the frozen funds, such as 11 billion euros ($13 billion) from the post-pandemic Recovery Fund, must be drawn by mid-August, or be irrevocably lost.

Magyar had previously outlined four ​key areas where his cabinet could move swiftly to avoid ​the loss of some 10 billion euros ($11.7 billion) of EU pandemic recovery funding by an end-August deadline, including measures to battle corruption and ​restore media and academic freedoms.

He said after the election ​that he was hoping for a political agreement during his first visit ‌to ⁠Brussels.

Financial markets ⁠have ​rallied and the forint currency has ​surged on Magyar's victory with hopes that the EU will unblock funds.

-A Lennon, Yiming Woo/Reuters