BUDAPEST REGAINS ACCESS TO FROZEN FUNDS WORTH EUR 4.2 BILLION

BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 13 /SRNA - RIA Novosti/ - The European Council has restored Hungary’s access to frozen funds worth EUR 4.2 billion, the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU announced.

The statement also said that the Council was restoring Hungarian universities' access to the EU's education and research programmes - Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe.

In July, the Council approved an updated Recovery and Resilience Plan, allowing Hungary to access up to EUR 10 billion in funding. All conditions for receiving the tranche had to be met by August 31.

Hungarian Minister of Transport and Investment Dávid Vitézy said at the end of August that all the conditions had been successfully met.

In mid-September 2022, the European Commission proposed launching a special conditionality mechanism against Hungary to ensure the protection of the EU budget "against breaches of the rule of law in Hungary".