EU Clears Hungary’s €10 Billion Plan

Hungary has been given a route back to EU recovery money, but not the money itself.

EU finance ministers approved Budapest's revised recovery plan on 10 July, opening the legal path to roughly €10 billion in grants and loans from the bloc's post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (Council, Commission). For Irish readers used to EU funds arriving with conditions attached, the distinction matters. This is an approval of a plan, not a transfer from Brussels.

Budapest has until 31 August 2026 to satisfy 27 binding reform checkpoints covering judicial independence, anti-corruption and public procurement. If it fails, the money expires permanently at the end of the year. The package is worth about €6.5 billion in grants and €3.5 billion in loans (Executive Digest). Grants do not have to be paid back. Loans do.

Hungary already knows the cost of missing the EU's deadlines. Roughly €2 billion has already been cancelled after the Orbán government refused to comply with earlier conditions (Euronews). The RRF, the EU's main post-pandemic investment fund worth €577 billion across the Union, works on delivery rather than promises. Governments commit to reforms, prove they have carried them out, and only then does the Commission release the cash (EUR-Lex).

That mechanism has defined Hungary's case since December 2022, when the Council approved Budapest's plan but placed every payment behind those reform checkpoints (Council). Under Viktor Orbán, Hungary did not meet any of them.

What Budapest changed

The political turn came under Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who reached an agreement with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and pushed a reform package through parliament in late June. Lawmakers passed the measures in a two-day extraordinary session by 142 votes to 39, giving the reversal broad parliamentary backing.

The amendments focus on three areas: procurement oversight, asset declarations and the public-interest foundations that Orbán used to move an estimated €8.5 billion in state assets beyond direct government control (Brussels Signal, The Hindu).

The new laws strengthen Hungary's Integrity Authority, its anti-corruption watchdog, and make it a criminal offence to hide assets in official declarations. They also require the foundations to be dissolved and their assets returned to the state.

Minister Dávid Vitézy said the obstacle under Orbán had been a simple refusal to move on any of these issues (Budapest Times). Parliament has now removed the formal legal barrier. The harder question is whether the new rules will actually be enforced.

Auditors say the EU cannot follow the money

EU conditions have forced Budapest into a legal retreat it resisted for years. But there is a difference between passing a law and proving that public money will be spent cleanly. EU auditors say that gap is wider than the Commission has acknowledged.

The European Court of Auditors warned in a 2026 special report that the RRF still cannot reliably track where money goes after the Commission releases it (ECA). The Commission can check whether Hungary has passed a law. It does not verify whether a reformed Integrity Authority will stop a corrupt procurement contract next year. The Commission accepted none of the auditors' recommendations (European Parliament).

That matters because after 31 August, the Commission loses its strongest lever: the threat that the funds will be cancelled for good. The deadline pushed Magyar to act, but it also favours speed over depth.

Hungary has paid out only about 9% of its RRF allocation, compared with an EU average of around 54% (Commission). It now has seven weeks to verify more reform progress than it managed in three and a half years.

The money is meant to support grid upgrades, rail, housing and a major expansion of wind energy, from about 330 MW to roughly 4 GW of installed capacity by 2030. Energy-law amendments are being drafted to cap environmental reviews at 85 days (Newsbase, CMS).

The Council has approved Hungary's claim on future money. It has not yet shown that Hungary can spend it cleanly under deadline pressure.