EU Approves 900 Million Euros in Funds for Hungary Despite Orban's Threats

The funds are part of the REPowerEU program aimed at helping EU nations recover from the energy crisis following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Hungary is set to receive 900 million euros ($981 million) in European Union money from the bloc’s REPowerEU program aimed at helping the 27 EU nations recover from the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The proposal to unlock the money in pre-financing came as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatens to derail Ukraine’s ambition to join the bloc, and to block the disbursement of a planned 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in aid to Kyiv.
The total value of the Hungary’s post-pandemic recovery plan, which includes the REPowerEU chapter, totals 10.4 billion euros ($11.3 billion) in loans and grants.
The Commission insisted that Hungary must achieve rule of law reforms for the bulk of that money to be released.
Orban has also repeatedly angered the EU since Russia started its war in Ukraine last year. He has criticized the sanctions adopted by member countries against Russia as being largely ineffective and counter-productive, and last month met Vladimir Putin in a rare in-person meeting for the Russian president with a leader of a European Union country.