Hungarian opposition parties on Tuesday reacted to the proposal by EU member state ambassadors on approving Hungary’s recovery plan, which is expected to result in EU leaders unblocking of the country’s recovery funds. The Democratic Coalition insisted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had been dealt a big blow in Europe, having “failed” to immediately secure recovery funds, while a large portion of cohesion money had also been frozen despite Orbán having “caved” on the issue of the EU loan to Ukraine and the global minimum tax.
Momentum said Orbán bore sole responsibility for Hungary receiving less money from the EU, adding that more than 4,800 billion forints (EUR 11.7bn) in EU funding still hung in the balance.
The Socialists said the risk that a large portion of catch-up funds would be withdrawn was ever present, and Orbán had merely secured a reprieve and must show the government can comply with European norms. The budget, it added, would now have access to enough funding to stave off “an even bigger crisis”.
Jobbik said the government had “backed down” on EU support for Ukraine and the global minimum tax, and yet its single biggest duty to secure the funding to help Hungarian citizens had not been fulfilled.
LMP said the decision of EU ambassadors was good for large European companies, given that Hungary has been exempted from applying the global minimum tax. “Hungary can remain a tax haven,” it added.
Ruling Fidesz said in reaction that the left was “working obsessively against Hungary”. In a statement, the party said the left had been doing “everything they could” to get Hungary to lose the EU funds it was entitled to. “But they failed,” Fidesz said, adding that the approval of Hungary’s recovery plan and operative programmes meant that “after half a year of political stalling”, Brussels had admitted that Hungary was entitled to those funds.