Von der Leyen urges Hungary to speed up reforms

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has urged Hungary to quickly implement reforms following the opposition’s victory in the recent parliamentary elections.

She stressed that progress is essential to unlock billions of euros in frozen EU funds, CE Report quotes MOLDPRES.

Speaking at an event on Sunday marking the 80th anniversary of the German publication Die Zeit, she warned that Budapest risks losing €6.5 billion in EU post-pandemic recovery funds if it fails to meet the conditions by the end of August.

The time pressure is “enormous,” she said, adding that two days earlier she had sent a team of senior officials from Brussels to Hungary to work with the team of election winner Peter Magyar on implementing the necessary reforms and investments.

EU funds were frozen due to concerns over the rule of law in Hungary under the current prime minister, Viktor Orbán.

Asked whether the EU should have taken a tougher stance toward Budapest, von der Leyen replied that the EU had been “extremely strict,” freezing a total of €17 billion for Hungary — a shortfall that, she said, affected the country’s competitiveness and was reflected in the election results.

She also explained that the EU had to strictly respect its treaties when imposing each sanction on Orbán’s government.

Hungarians “deserve to receive these European funds once the conditions are met,” she added.

Citing what she described as years of systematic obstruction by Budapest of certain EU decisions, von der Leyen also supported abandoning the principle of unanimity in EU foreign policy decision-making, arguing that the bloc must be able to act quickly and ensure that “Europe’s voice is heard.”