Magyar ‘surrendered’ €2.1bn that Orbán secured, Fidesz claims

In its statement sent to MTI, the parliamentary group wrote that further details of the “Brussels-Tisza pact” had come to light.

While in 2022 the European Commission initiated the freezing of 6.3 billion euros in EU subsidies from the cohesion funds owed to Hungary, “of the money secured by Viktor Orbán through tough negotiations, Péter Magyar gave up 2.1 billion euros” — “a little sovereignty” and two billion euros, that is what Péter Magyar’s government has surrendered so far, the Fidesz-KDNP EP delegation highlighted.

According to the MEPs from the former governing parties, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, made clear in early 2024 that the 20 billion euros in EU funds owed to Hungary would remain frozen for as long as “our country does not meet Brussels’ political blackmail conditions.”

They recalled that among the reasons for the suspension of funds were concerns related to LGBTQ rights, academic freedom, and the right to asylum.

“These, then, were the orders from Brussels,” they stated.

According to the MEPs, the previous government enacted the strictest child protection law: it banned “gender propaganda” from schools and, with the introduction of a paedophile registry in 2021, helped parents check the backgrounds of people coming into contact with children.

They also pointed out that in the 2022 “child protection” referendum, 3.6 to 3.7 million Hungarians supported the then-government’s measures on these issues. “The Tisza government has rewritten all of this on Brussels’ orders: it is giving free rein to gender propaganda in schools and has taken the side of paedophiles over parents,” they stressed.

The statement recalls that, citing academic freedom, Brussels excluded Hungarian students, educators, and researchers from the Erasmus programme.

The Orbán government amended the relevant regulations on several occasions in order to address the objections of the European Commission and bring an end to the restrictions imposed on Hungarian students, educators, and researchers.

“However, Brussels kept raising new and new blackmailing demands and did not lift the restrictions,” the MPs stated.

“Following the change of government, however, Péter Magyar and his allies fulfilled all of Brussels’ political conditions,” they stated.

According to the statement, in 2022 the European Commission moved to freeze 6.3 billion euros in EU funding from the cohesion money owed to Hungary, in the interest of “political blackmail.”

“There is no demand Brussels can formulate that Péter Magyar and his allies would not fulfil eagerly, obediently, and servilely. The question is: what will the next request from Brussels be?” the Fidesz-KDNP parliamentary group added in its statement.

Csaba Dömötör, a Fidesz MEP, speaking to Hungarian journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, said that the Fidesz-KDNP European Parliament delegation is demanding full transparency regarding the contents of the political agreement between the Tisza government and the European Commission.

“Over the past few weeks it has become clear that in exchange for EU funds, the Tisza government must implement the demands that the European Commission has formulated over recent years and which the previous government consistently refused,” he said.

He stated that the new Hungarian government is implementing the “list of demands” that the previous government was also well aware of — it simply resisted the pressure.

“The only question now is: what are the demands that are not yet known? Will they interfere with the personal income tax system, will they touch family support schemes, and will they really raise corporate tax?” he said.

Since these steps affect the lives, livelihoods, and jobs of millions of Hungarians, “we are demanding full transparency”: all significant details of the agreement must be made public, the Fidesz politician added in his statement.

Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original Hungarian text.