In a post on Facebook on Thursday, Karácsony said he met with EC VP for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova, Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn, and Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

"Hungary is in a serious economic situation because of the war and in no small part because of the government's insane scattering of money during the election campaign," he said.

"That's why there is an especially big need for the many billions of euros available to Hungary from the EU's recovery fund," he added.

Karácsony said the Orbán government cannot access the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funding "because it is unwilling to do enough to meet anti-corruption conditions laid down by the EU", adding that he tried to "help Hungary reach the kind of agreement in the framework of the rule-of-law procedure against the Orban government that ensures the rule of law is upheld and prevents the theft of EU monies".