10/ It is still worth pointing out that the mechanics above only apply to limited pre-financing under REPowerEU. To unlock rest of the funds, both RRF/REPowerEU and cohesion, RoL conditions must still be fulfilled - and Hungary is already gearing up for negotiations in December.

9/ Back in May 2022, when REPowerEU was proposed but no details were known yet, I thought that it might perhaps raise pressure on MS to comply with RoL milestones so as to be able tap into EU funds to reduce dependency on Russian fossil fuels. This is not the case.

8/ It includes a top-up of €4.6 billion (€0.7 billion in grants and €3.9 billion in loans). With 20% in pre-financing, this means that Hungary can now receive €920 million in two tranches without any further conditions - if Council approves the amended NRRP before year's end.

7/ The new pre-financing can amount to up to 20% of the additional REPowerEU funding requested by MS, paid out in two tranches. Hungary's REPowerEU chapter was endorsed by the Commission yesterday: ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

6/ This, for one, opens up the possibility to finance investments under REPowerEU that are not possible under RRF. But in particular, it also opens up again the possibility of receiving pre-financing with no conditions other than approval of the amended NRRP by 31 December 2023.

5/ REPowerEU made some fundamental changes to the RRF. Crucially, member states can submit a new REPowerEU chapter amending their NRRPs to include new reforms and investments relating to the REPowerEU objectives and request a top-up.

4/ In May 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission proposed its REPowerEU plan to reduce dependency on Russian fossil fuel. In February 2023, REPowerEU was formally adopted and integrated into the RRF: eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023...

3/ What is more, the Commission even imposed 27 RoL "super milestones" on the Hungarian government last year, which had to be implemented before any money could flow under the RRF (€5.8 billion in grants): ec.europa.eu/commission/p... So what changed?

2/ After that, disbursement of RRF tranches became conditional upon implementation of milestones and targets set out in the NRRPs. Hungary missed its pre-financing in 2021, which normally would have meant that its chance on getting RRF funds with no strings attached was gone.

1/ A reminder: Back when the RRF was adopted in February 2021, member states could receive 13% of their allocated share in the form of a pre-financing with no strings attached except approval of their national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) by 31 December 2021.