Magyar’s team has also been working with some of his predecessor’s ministers and civil servants to advance the technical work required to make the reforms, three other officials with knowledge of the proceedings said.

András Kármán, Magyar’s nominee for finance minister, István Kapitány, tapped for economy minister, and Anita Orbán, the incoming foreign minister, met a high-level Commission delegation, including von der Leyen’s Cabinet chief Bjoern Seibert, on Saturday and prepared the ground for the Magyar-von der Leyen meeting. Before that, the teams met in Budapest on April 18 and 19.

The first step to unlocking Hungary’s recovery money is complying with 27 EU-mandated “super milestones,” covering procurement, judicial independence and academic freedom. Because Tisza has won more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament, Magyar is expected to be able to get those changes approved quickly.

The harder part is carrying out the more detailed reforms and projects needed to claim the funds before they expire. If Hungary fails to recover the full amount, it could try to extend the deadline by transferring the money to its national promotional bank.

A separate workaround under discussion would involve using post-Covid funds to finish projects already financed through regional funds, two of the officials quoted above said.

Magyar is also seeking a broader reset with Brussels, including relief from daily fines imposed in a migration dispute, Commission approval for Hungary’s request for billions in loans from the EU’s SAFE program, and a path for Hungarian universities to rejoin Erasmus after they were sidelined over academic freedom concerns.