At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Andras Karman, Hungary’s newly named finance minister, pledged a rapid effort to restore access to European Union funds and to put the country on a path to adopt the euro by 2030.
Karman told lawmakers that Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s government will alter taxation and economic planning to render fiscal targets clearer and more predictable. He said those measures form part of a broader change in economic direction following the era of Viktor Orban.
"Hungary’s economic policy doesn’t just need a simple course correction, it needs a change of direction," Karman said shortly before being formally appointed by President Tamas Sulyok. The minister also said he intends to end the previous administration’s labor-intensive approach that had relied on a weakening currency.
The incoming finance minister indicated the government aims to unlock frozen EU funding within months. He added that Hungary will meet the criteria for euro adoption by 2030, citing a specific fiscal target of keeping the budget deficit under 3% of economic output as part of that effort.
Karman’s remarks come as the new Tisza party government under Prime Minister Peter Magyar seeks to contrast itself with perceptions of the prior administration. The Tisza party has presented its platform as a response to what it characterized as entrenched corruption, ad-hoc taxation and extensive state intervention associated with the previous government led by Viktor Orban.
While Orban had promised a period of post-pandemic growth, the economy under his tenure had experienced little expansion over the past four years and at times moved in and out of recession, a point reflected in the new government’s stated policy shift.
The minister’s plan links changes in taxation and economic planning with a goal of creating a more transparent fiscal framework and a predictable path back to euro membership. He framed these adjustments as part of a wider effort to change course from past policies rather than merely fine-tune them.
- Context: New finance minister vows to unlock EU funding and meet euro accession criteria by 2030.
- Policy shift: Government plans to revise taxation, economic planning, and end a labor-intensive, currency-weakening approach.
- Fiscal target: Commitment to a budget deficit below 3% of GDP as part of meeting euro adoption conditions.