Norway Hungary grants will restart after a decade-long hiatus, under a 254.1 million euro agreement to be signed in Budapest on Monday by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein with Hungary’s new government.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters on Friday that Norway had reached an agreement with Hungary allowing the restart of a grants scheme halted over disagreements with the previous Hungarian government. Eide, together with his counterparts from Iceland and Liechtenstein, will meet Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban in Budapest on Monday to sign the agreement under the European Economic Area and Norway Grants scheme.
The deal covers the 2021-2028 funding period, although payments are possible until April 2031, and makes Hungary the fourth-largest of 15 recipients after Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, according to Reuters.
Why payments stopped
There were no payments in the 2014-2021 funding period because of a failure to agree on an independent fund operator with the previous government led by Viktor Orban, Eide said. So there has been no transfer from Norway to Hungary in the Norway and EEA grants for 10 years, he said, but the change in government in Hungary now led by Peter Magyar has made a restart possible.
Norway provides 97 percent of the funding, which seeks to support cooperation between Norwegian and Hungarian organisations in areas including democracy, rule of law, press freedom, combatting corruption and the green transition, according to Reuters. There is now agreement on control mechanisms to ensure the proper use of funds, Eide said.
A wider European thaw
The move follows a decision by the European Commission to unlock 16.4 billion euros of previously frozen EU recovery and cohesion funds thanks to reforms making progress under the new government in Budapest, according to Reuters.
Eide welcomed the direction of travel of the Magyar government, saying it was important for Hungarians and for Europe that Hungary was coming back to key European values and principles. The signing on Monday will mark the formal end of a funding freeze that outlasted a full funding cycle, and a test of whether the new control mechanisms can keep the money flowing.
