EU officials to meet Hungary’s next leader as Orban skips summit.

Story by Thomas Escritt, Jorge Valero and Ewa Krukowska.

Photo - Hungary's Incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar at a news conference following his election victory in Budapest on April 13. © Bloomberg (Bloomberg).

European Union officials are heading to Budapest on Friday for talks with Hungary’s incoming leader, Peter Magyar, with no signs the outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban will drop his veto over a €90 billion ($106 billion) EU loan to Ukraine.

The delegation from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will discuss the next government’s plans as it prepares to take office in early May. The talks have taken on an urgency, given “the clock is ticking” on a number of topics, including the Ukraine aid and more than $20 billion in frozen funds for Hungary, said commission spokesperson Paula Pinho.
“There will be plenty of opportunity to discuss what are the positions of the new government and take it from there,” she told reporters on Thursday.

Hungary’s outgoing administration has indicated to EU officials that its stance on European policy won’t change before the new government takes office, people familiar with the matter said speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Brussels has also signaled that it won’t release the frozen Hungarian funds until Magyar resolves the rule-of-law concerns that caused the money to be withheld during Orban’s 16 years in power. This means the next Hungarian leader will face an extremely tight deadline to satisfy conditions, with more than half of the suspended funds expiring after August.

The aim of the Budapest visit is to discuss what steps the next government must take to unblock the money, with a potential agreement in principle between Magyar and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen likely to be reached within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, there were no signs of Orban planning to drop his veto over the loan to Ukraine. The outgoing prime minister will skip a meeting of EU leaders in Cyprus next week as he “will be concentrating on government handover-related tasks,” European Affairs Minister Janos Boka said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

The informal summit — a potential swan-song for EU’s longest-serving leader — could have offered an opportunity to revisit the Ukraine aid issue. The Hungarian leader blocked the assistance during last month’s gathering in Brussels in a move that exasperated the EU and raised concerns Kyiv could soon run out of money as it faces the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Magyar, who won Sunday’s parliamentary election in a landslide, said Hungary will no longer stand in the way of Ukraine receiving the funds. But he also said he expects Orban to lift his veto once oil flows through a key pipeline are restored.

The ousted Hungarian leader has often used his country’s veto powers over EU decisions, regularly frustrating policies meant to punish Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Orban will be interviewed on an internet TV channel at 7 p.m. local time on Thursday.
The key question for Magyar is whether he can move quickly to get the blocked funds as his government seeks to bolster the economy, which has stagnated in the final years of Orban’s rule. Hungary has also become the most corrupt country in the EU, according to Transparency International rankings.

Tackling widespread cronyism under Orban will be a major undertaking for the next prime minister.

The EU executive said Hungary is running out of time and has urged the next government to start working quickly. Still, not all of the frozen pandemic recovery funds, which make up the largest portion of the withheld cash, will be salvaged, a senior European Commission official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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