Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar vowed on Sunday to unlock billions of euros of suspended European Union funding to revive the economy if elected next year.
In December 2022, the European Commission froze almost €22 billion in cohesion funding earmarked for Budapest citing concerns over human rights and judicial independence. Last year, more than €10 billion of that sum was released causing controversy.
Now the country’s main challenger to the rule of incumbent prime minister Viktor Orbán has made unblocking the remaining money a key election promise.
“Hungary will again be a proud and reliable NATO ally. Hungary will again be a fully-fledged member of the EU,” Reuters quoted Magyar as telling supporters after presenting the results of a nationwide survey he said would form the basis of a government agenda.
“Unlocking the EU funds alone could boost the economy by at least 1%, which would yield an additional 800 billion forints ($2.22 billion) for the budget,” Magyar said, adding that a predictable economic policy would curb debt financing costs.
Magyar also promised a referendum on whether Ukraine should be allowed to join the EU. Assessing the survey's results, Magyar said the issue of Ukraine's membership of the bloc was divisive, therefore he would hold a binding vote on the issue when the exact conditions of Ukraine's entry emerge.
Orbán, who has strongly opposed providing NATO military and EU aid to Ukraine, says the country’s EU membership would destroy Hungarian farmers and the wider economy.
Standard & Poor’s cut Hungary’s credit rating outlook to negative from stable late on Friday amid growing risks to fiscal stability from trade wars, lower EU fund inflows and high debt servicing costs amid budget loosening ahead of the 2026 election.
While Orbán’s government expects economic growth to accelerate to 2.5% this year, S&P sees a mere 1.5% expansion, which would cap the weakest three-year stretch leading up to a national election during Orbán’s 15-year rule.
In power since 2010, the right-wing Orbán has been locked in a series of running battles with the EU on rule-of-law reforms, which led to the suspension of funding, hitting the economy weighed down by years of high inflation.
Some surveys show Magyar’s center-right Tisza Party has overtaken Orbán's nationalist Fidesz in opinion polls after two years of near-stagnation and new risks to Hungary’s export- reliant economy from U.S. tariffs on imports from the EU.
Now the country’s main challenger to the rule of incumbent prime minister Viktor Orbán has made unblocking the remaining money a key election promise.
“Hungary will again be a proud and reliable NATO ally. Hungary will again be a fully-fledged member of the EU,” Reuters quoted Magyar as telling supporters after presenting the results of a nationwide survey he said would form the basis of a government agenda.
“Unlocking the EU funds alone could boost the economy by at least 1%, which would yield an additional 800 billion forints ($2.22 billion) for the budget,” Magyar said, adding that a predictable economic policy would curb debt financing costs.
Magyar also promised a referendum on whether Ukraine should be allowed to join the EU. Assessing the survey's results, Magyar said the issue of Ukraine's membership of the bloc was divisive, therefore he would hold a binding vote on the issue when the exact conditions of Ukraine's entry emerge.
Orbán, who has strongly opposed providing NATO military and EU aid to Ukraine, says the country’s EU membership would destroy Hungarian farmers and the wider economy.
Economic woes
Standard & Poor’s cut Hungary’s credit rating outlook to negative from stable late on Friday amid growing risks to fiscal stability from trade wars, lower EU fund inflows and high debt servicing costs amid budget loosening ahead of the 2026 election.
While Orbán’s government expects economic growth to accelerate to 2.5% this year, S&P sees a mere 1.5% expansion, which would cap the weakest three-year stretch leading up to a national election during Orbán’s 15-year rule.
In power since 2010, the right-wing Orbán has been locked in a series of running battles with the EU on rule-of-law reforms, which led to the suspension of funding, hitting the economy weighed down by years of high inflation.
Some surveys show Magyar’s center-right Tisza Party has overtaken Orbán's nationalist Fidesz in opinion polls after two years of near-stagnation and new risks to Hungary’s export- reliant economy from U.S. tariffs on imports from the EU.
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