Hungary has today officially lost one billion euros in European funds, which were “frozen” due to violations of the Rule of Law for which Budapest is accused, according to the European Commission, something unprecedented in the European Union.

Brussels had activated in Spring 2022 the compliance mechanism against the central European country, a process that led to the suspension of some payments.

The Commission had then spoken of “serious concerns” about Hungary’s use of the European budget, linked to the terms of public procurement as well as a lack of control and transparency.

Since then, Budapest has implemented reforms that have allowed some of the money to be released, but 19 billion have remained tied up under different procedures.

“Based on the compliance regulation, (…) the first tranche” of the pledged money, amounting to 1.04 billion euros, expired “at the end of 2024”, the Commission explained to AFP.

After returning to the country’s leadership in 2010, nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán consolidated his power and his inner circle became spectacularly wealthy.

In July, the European Commission assessed in a report that Hungary did not respect the EU’s democratic rules, in particular on the issues of corruption, political financing, conflicts of interest and media independence.

Viktor Orbán vowed to “fight” to protect money “that is ours”. “They are trying to take Hungarian money in various ways and for various reasons,” he said in December, threatening to block the EU budget to achieve his goal.

In this difficult context for the Hungarian leader against the backdrop of the economic recession, his new opponent Peter Magyar today called for early parliamentary elections, while opinion polls give his party the lead. Elections are currently scheduled for Spring 2026.

“Time is pressing. Let’s speed up the date of the elections so that the country does not lose another year for no reason,” he said in his wishes for 2025. “We will bring back the billions owed to us by the European Union.”