Confirmation follows days of silence from Brussels after Hungary’s foreign minister announced the meeting last week.
BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet Hungary’s newly elected Prime Minister Péter Magyar in Brussels on Friday afternoon, according to the Commission.
Maygar said in a social media post on Wednesday evening that the meeting would happen on Friday. The Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, confirmed this and the timing shortly after.
The confirmation on Wednesday evening follows several days of apparent hesitation from the EU executive about when — or even whether — the meeting would take place. This comes after Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán told POLITICO on Saturday that Magyar would come to Brussels for talks this week.
Budapest is seeking to reset strained ties with Brussels after years of confrontation under the ousted former leader Viktor Orbán.
Magyar, whose centrist movement swept to victory in Hungary’s election last month, is seeking to unlock billions in EU funds frozen over Budapest’s breaches of EU law under Orbán, who governed the country for 16 consecutive years.
Unlocking €10.4 billion in EU post-pandemic recovery funds is the Magyar government’s top priority, Foreign Minister Orbán — no relation of the former leader — told POLITICO.
The release of the funds is contingent on Hungary meeting specific reform criteria, the Commission said. Budapest is racing to fulfill the requirements needed to qualify for the cash, which it must formally request by Aug. 31.
Magyar has said there’s a “political agreement” on the release of the frozen funds, while a Commission official told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook on Tuesday that a handful of technical issues remained unresolved.
The new Hungarian leader met with von der Leyen in Brussels in April to kick off negotiations for unlocking the cash before the deadline.
On Thursday, Magyar will also hold talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels, the alliance confirmed on Wednesday. He will also meet Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, according to a Belgian government official.
Camille Gijs contributed reporting.