The incoming Hungarian leader is pressed for time as he seeks to unlock billions of euros in EU cash before an August deadline.
Good morning, I’m Angela Skujins. This is my first day penning Euronews’ flagship daily newsletter.
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It is also incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s first visit to Brussels – a highly-anticipated trip that aims to reset relations between the Central European country and its EU allies.
Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16 years of continuous rule came to an end at a decisive election on 12 April. His tenure cost the country €17 billion in frozen EU funds due to democratic backsliding. If an agreement is not struck by the end of August, Hungary stands to lose roughly €10 billion of this in post-COVID funds.
But Magyar wants to claw the cash back, and aims to use his trip to engage in a closed-door conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to unlock it before the cutoff. “We have no time to waste,” the Tisza leader wrote on social media platform X. He is not expected to speak to the press.
The meeting between leaders comes after back and forth visits from lower-level delegations, which most recently featured Anita Orban, who is tapped to be the country’s incoming foreign affairs minister.
There is clear will from both groups to “start work on various urgent topics”, a Commission statement from the time reveals. From the outside, these conversations between EU heavyweights and a government yet to take office highlights the urgency of the situation and a refreshed political willingness on both sides.
European Council President Antonio Costa will also receive Magyar at 6pm Wednesday, months after Costa warned the then-prime minister Orbán that the European Council would not allow itself to be blackmailed; and after the Hungarians and Slovaks dropped their veto on the EU’s 20th sanctions package against Russia, and the €90 billion loan for Ukraine.
The latest European Commission report detailing rule of law issues in each EU member state highlights that Hungary has made no improvements on seven out of eight of its priority reform areas – and a “deteriorating environment” remains.
But, as Euronews’ Sandor Zsiros has previously reported, Magyar has a four-step plan to unblock the money. It centres on combatting corruption, restoring judicial independence, and safeguarding press and academic freedom. He even wants to revise the country’s €16 billion SAFE defence plan submitted by the defeated Orbán government, citing corruption risks.
European People’s Party President Manfred Weber told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday that now it is incumbent on the bloc to support Budapest – and that “trust is the main message".
“Europe must be now the friend on the side of Hungary, of this new government, delivering now on the concrete expectations of the citizens,” Weber said.
EU 'ready' to sanction Israel over Russian vessel carrying stolen Ukrainian grain
The European Union has warned Israel that it is ready to impose sanctions on those aiding and abetting the trade of Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia in the occupied territories after a new ship loaded with the cereal arrived in the port city of Haifa.
A European Commission spokesperson told Euronews’ Jorge Liboreiro that the EU executive condemns all actions that fund Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and circumvent EU sanctions. Brussels also stands ready to target actions by “listing individuals and entities in third countries if necessary”, they added.
The vessel, allegedly carrying over 6,200 tonnes of wheat and 19,000 tonnes of barley, has yet to unload in the northern Israeli port city. However, a shipment of stolen Ukrainian grain was allowed to proceed earlier in April.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media platform X his government would begin preparing “relevant sanctions” in coordination with the Europeans against those “attempting to profit from this criminal scheme.”
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said the ship would be examined and national authorities would "act in accordance with the law".
Jorge has the full story.
European Parliament calls to define rape as sex without consent
The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a resolution calling for an EU-wide definition of rape based on the absence of freely given and informed consent, Vincenzo Genovese writes in to report from Strasbourg.
The definition of rape varies across the EU. In Latvia, for example, rape refers to sexual violence committed under constraint, including force or other forms of pressure, while Romanian law focuses on the victim’s inability to express consent.
The resolution aims to fill a key hole in EU legislation on violence against women, but the work has just begun. It is now up to the European Commission to propose legislation consequently supported by EU member states and the European Council. More.
More from our newsrooms
Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut freed from Belarusian jail, officials say. Poczobut, a correspondent for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, was serving eight years in prison in a case condemned as politically motivated. Mateusz Jaronski and Gavin Blackburn have the details.
Man charged with attempted assassination of Trump in White House correspondents' dinner shooting. Frenchman Louis Arnaud spent two years behind bars inside Tehran's Evin prison, a place notorious for torture and executions, following his arrest by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on 28 September 2022. More.
We're also keeping an eye on
- The European Parliament’s plenary session continues in Strasbourg, with debate heating up in the afternoon about the EU’s response to the ongoing fighting in the Middle East and energy price shocks, as well as the bloc normalising relations with Russia through sport.
- The European Commissioner for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen will also deliver a morning press conference on the EU’s proposed age verification app at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
That's it for today. Maria Tadeo, Sasha Vakulina, Jorge Liboreiro and Vincenzo Genovese contributed to this newsletter.