Hungary expects to sign EU funding agreement within days

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s government is expecting to sign an agreement within days that will bring it closer to accessing billions in suspended European Union funding. The bloc has held up the money for more than a year over concerns of corruption and democratic erosion in Hungary. But a deal reached late Monday in Brussels made it possible for Budapest to gain access to 5.8 billion euros worth of pandemic recovery funds if it implements 27 “super milestones” on democratic reforms. The deal also reduced the amount of suspended regular aid funds from 7.5 billion euros to around 6.3 billion.