Summary
Hungary will lose €1.04 billion in EU funds on January 1, 2025, as disputes with Brussels over corruption and rule of law persist, deepening its recession.
Hungary faces a deepening recession, with with €6.3 billion frozen over rule-of-law concerns, and €200 million lost annually due to daily fines for illegal asylum seeker treatment, alongside a 0.7% economic contraction and a 4.5% budget deficit.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is looking to Chinese investment to offset the €19 billion in blocked EU funds.
While Chinese projects, such as a battery plant, have increased, experts doubt they can replace the scale of EU funding.
It’s so stupid that the EU doesn’t have a mechanism to kick out members, wtf were they thinking when they made the rules?!
Because it could be used the other way. I agree that the Hungarian question is shit, but imagine a majority of countries deciding to kick a country out because opposition to some regulation , like fracking or immigration,or whatever, which is objectively good.
Also, what Orban is doing is as a govrnment. The majority could change, and we’d have punished a country because of a single government. It’s a really difficult thing.