Hungary makes European budget conditional on access to funds

Hungary refuses to approve the new EU budget until it receives the European funds that the European Commission (EC) continues to block, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned today.

"There will be no European budget until we receive our money," the Magyar leader said in a speech at the Baile Tusnad Summer University in neighboring Romania.

The draft European budget for the period 2028 to 2034 was recently presented by the EC and is criticized by several countries.

Orbán, who usually delivers a speech every summer at the closing of this event, recalled that Hungary received 12 billion euros in EU funds, which corresponds to half of the money it was entitled to.

The EC is keeping at least another €10 billion blocked due to rule of law issues in Hungary, and concerns persist that Budapest is only meeting half of the 27 requirements negotiated with Brussels to access these funds.

Orbán recalled that the viability of the community budget requires the unanimous approval of EU countries and made it clear that he is willing to veto it.

The Prime Minister, a highly critical of the European Union (EU), reiterated that Brussels has placed itself in a situation where US President Donald Trump views the continent as "a political adversary" rather than an ally.

Therefore, in the current "trade war," the EU can only achieve bad deals with the US, Orbán said, reiterating that "a change of leadership in the EU is necessary" and stressing that the Union "cannot win the trade war" against Trump.

According to Orbán, the EU is currently “preparing for a trade war with the US and China, while at war with Russia (in Ukraine).”

Hungary's ultra-nationalist government is the EU's closest executive branch to Moscow, while maintaining tense relations with Ukraine, which has been under attack by Russia since 2022.

In this sense, the Prime Minister reiterated that the EU should not integrate Ukraine, as this would mean importing a war into the community bloc.