The government of Hungary has officially applied for 3.9 billion euros (4.2 billion U.S. dollars) in credit from the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), Minister for Regional Development Tibor Navracsics said here on Thursday.
The government’s aim is to secure financial support for critical energy infrastructure projects and initiatives to enhance energy efficiency and promote the transition to environmental sustainability, he said.
Navracsics declined to answer a question on when the funds would be available but said that the projects to be funded by RRF resources must be completed by the autumn of 2026.
He said that the European Commission has yet to complete its assessment of the Hungarian government’s responses to the EU’s concerns about the rule of law in the country.
The Commission has said that it would hold back around 28 billion euros of EU funding for Hungary until its government implements 27 so-called « super milestones, » without which no payment under the RRF will be allowed. This includes the country’s entire share of the bloc’s Cohesion Fund for the 2021-2027 period amounting to 22 billion euros and 5.8 billion euros under the RRF, the bloc’s post-COVID stimulus program. These « milestones » (an interconnected system of criteria) are aimed at tackling the EU’s concerns regarding the independence of the country’s justice system, as well as academic freedom, corruption, LGBT rights, the asylum system and corruption. (1 euro= 1.08 U.S. dollar)
