Releasing the entire amount would likely have triggered a backlash from the European Parliament and EU capitals ― especially those in Northern Europe, which are the most annoyed at Orbán’s antics.
Given Hungary’s repeated threats to use its national veto to block some of the EU’s biggest initiatives, keeping most of the funds frozen gives Brussels more leverage to secure concessions on strategic files, said a Commission official with knowledge of the process who was granted anonymity to speak freely.
The Commission’s official reason for keeping most of the €545 million blocked is that it fears Hungary could still siphon that cash toward universities.
The Commission has repeatedly urged Budapest to restore academic freedoms in order to unblock the money stream.
“The Commission considered that the horizontal enabling conditions can be fulfilled only if the universities run by so-called public interest trusts are clearly excluded from these new priorities, or the issues raised by the Commission in the past concerning the public interest trusts are resolved,” Berestecki wrote in a statement.
Hungary’s request predates a midterm revamp of regional funding that makes it easier to reshuffle funding across different policy areas.
Critics claim that Budapest will use this loophole to try to unblock other funding in the future.
