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

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened on Saturday to torpedo the European Union’s new seven-year budget unless Brussels unlocks all suspended EU funds.

The nationalist leader has for years clashed with Brussels over migration, LGBTQ rights and what critics see as eroding democracy in Hungary. The EU has suspended billions of euros 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.

The European Commission has proposed a 2 trillion euro ($2.35 trillion) EU budget for 2028 to 2034 with emphasis on economic competitiveness and defence.

Orban 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 vote.

He also accused EU leaders of risking a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration that Europe “cannot win.”

“The current leadership of the EU will always be the last to sign deals with the United States and always the worst deals,” Orban added, urging a change in the bloc’s leadership.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet Trump on Sunday in Scotland in search of a trade deal.

Orban, who swept the last four elections, faces a tough new opposition challenger Peter Maygar, whose centre-right Tisza party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most polls at a time of economic stagnation.

Magyar told a rally on Saturday that Hungary must be firmly anchored in the EU and NATO military alliance, and Tisza would bring home all suspended EU funds if it wins in 2026.

“Hungary is an EU member and our relations as allies cannot be built on a political style of putting a spoke in the wheel,” Magyar said. He added that Tisza could not support the EU budget in current form but would be ready for talks on that.

“We need to make a clear and firm decision that our place has been and will be in Europe,” Magyar said, criticising Orban’s close relations with Russia.