Hungary agreed with the EU decision to provide a loan to Ukraine
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The European Union (EU) and Hungary reached a deal on December 12 that will resolve their differences, Reuters reported. Under the terms of the deal, Hungary will not oppose the allocation of a loan of 18 billion euros to Ukraine from the EU budget. Budapest will also remove its veto from a bill introducing a minimum 15% corporate income tax, which should be adopted in the EU according to the recommendations of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.
Hungary exchanged its consent for a partial unfreezing of the funds promised to it – Brussels undertakes to show greater flexibility in allocating funds from European funds to Budapest, Reuters explains. These funds mean billions of euros from EU funds, which Hungary intends to use for its own purposes.
Under the terms of the deal, the EU will approve Budapest’s plan to spend 5.8 billion euros by the end of 2022, but the money will be provided only after the Hungarian side completes 27 reforms to ensure the independence of the judiciary and combat corruption. Nevertheless, notes Reuters, this is already tangible progress in relations with Brussels. Even if the European politicians are not satisfied with the behavior of Hungary, the mentioned funds for Budapest will not be irretrievably lost, which Hungary feared earlier. In addition, the amount of frozen funds that Hungary cannot use will decrease from 7.5 billion to 6.3 billion euros. Earlier, the European Commission (EC) insisted on such a freeze, which accused Budapest of violating the rule of law.
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