EU Backs Further Delays to Hungary Funding in Blow to Orban

The European Commission recommended delaying the disbursement of crucial funding to Hungary, saying Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government has failed to allay its concerns over graft and the erosion of the rule of law.

The EU’s executive arm said member states should conditionally approve Hungary’s Covid-era recovery plan, but Budapest would first have to comply with a set of reforms before it could receive the €5.8 billion ($6 billion) in grants from the bloc. The interim step, which takes account of Hungary’s recent efforts to pass more than a dozen pieces of anti-corruption legislation, will prevent Budapest from losing access permanently to €4.1 billion of that pot.