Hungary ready for compromises with Brussels to unblock recovery funds
euronews.comHungary is ready to strike a compromise with Brussels to end the long-standing impasse that has blocked the country's access to the EU's coronavirus recovery fund, according to a minister from Viktor Orbán's government.
"I am confident that this change, meaning my new ministerial appointment, could help give new impetus to the negotiations," Tibor Navracsics, who was recently appointed as Hungary's minister for regional development and the utilisation of EU funds, told Euronews on Thursday.
"Since Hungary is the last EU member state that doesn't have an agreement with the European Commission on a national recovery plan, our goal is to speed up the negotiations as much as possible so that we can sign this deal by the end of the year."
The Commission continues to refuse the approval of the Hungarian recovery plan over rule of law concerns that, in the executive's view, remain unaddressed.
The concerns relate to systematic irregulates across the country involving corruption, cronyism, fraud in public procurement and the allocation of public funds.
Hungary has one of the EU's highest ratios of single-bidder tenders, under which a public contract is awarded to the only company that has applied as candidate.
"Hungary remains prone to corruption and fraud involving public funds and has been subject to rule of law backsliding for years," Transparency International said last year in an open letter addressed to the Commission.
Budapest initially requested €7.2 billion in grants from the EU's €750-billion recovery fund.
But a combination of negative economic factors - a persistent power crunch, disrupted supply chains, the war in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and soaring inflation - has made the government change its mind and asked for
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