EU approves Hungary's post-pandemic recovery plan

The European Commission approved Hungary's post-pandemic recovery plan on Wednesday but will hold back funds until Budapest fulfils all agreed conditions.

"The Commission will authorise disbursements of 5.8 billion euros ($6 billion) in grants based on the satisfactory fulfilment of all the milestones and targets outlined in the recovery and resilience plan, reflecting progress on the implementation of the investments and reforms," the commission said in a press release.

It also asked the EU governments to freeze 7.5 billion euros that Hungary would normally be getting from the EU budget as part of the bloc's cohesion policy.

"... no payment under the RRF (Recovery and Resilience Facility) is possible until Hungary has fully and correctly implemented these 27 'super milestones'," the Commission said.

"The rule of law, including independent justice and effective anti-corruption systems, are key elements of a democratic EU," said Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for values and European transparency.

"We recommend to the Council to continue the budget conditionality mechanism as the commitments, which the Hungarian government proposed and agreed to, have not been met. At the same time we are proposing to the Council to endorse the Hungarian Recovery Plan because it includes strong judicial milestones," Jourova added.