Hungary won’t meet European Union demands to amend controversial laws on asylum seekers and on restricting LGBTQ content, a senior minister said, making it less likely that Budapest will be able to tap the remainder of the funds suspended by the bloc.
The two pieces of legislation are beyond “red lines” that Hungary won’t cross to access EU money, Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyas told reporters on January 18.
The EU released €10.2 billion, about a third of the blocked funds, to Hungary in December after Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government was deemed to have met the European Commission’s criteria to bolster judicial independence.
The rest of the funds will only be released if Orbán’s cabinet meets all other criteria, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers on January 17.
