Hungary's Orban says he will not back EU budget unless funds released

26/7/2025 18:27

Hungary's government will not support the European Union's new seven-year budget unless Brussels unlocks all suspended EU funds, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday.



In the past 15 years, the nationalist leader has clashed with Brussels over his policies on migration, curbing LGBTQ rights and what critics see as eroding democracy in Hungary. The EU has suspended billions of euros in funds earmarked for Hungary while a rule-of-law dispute drags on.



"The approval of the new seven-year budget requires unanimity and until we get the remaining (frozen) funds, there won't be a new EU budget either," Orban said in a speech at a summer university in the Romanian town of Baile Tusnad.



He also criticised the EU for supporting Ukraine and accused Brussels of planning to install a "pro-Ukraine and pro-Brussels government" in Hungary at next year's national vote.



He also said the EU's current leadership has put the bloc on a track that would lead to a trade war that Europe "cannot win."