Brussels has said it plans to withhold €7.5bn in funding from Hungary over rule of law violations involving corruption in the awarding of public contracts.
The European Commission on Sunday recommended member states vote to suspend around a third of Hungary’s cohesion funding, which is provided to less economically developed parts of the EU.
Budapest is due to receive €22bn in cohesion funds during the current round of EU budget spending, which lasts until 2027. It is also separately seeking to unlock an extra €7bn of grants and billions more in loans under the EU’s Covid-19 recovery fund, which the commission said could also be affected if Hungary did not address rule of law issues.