1994 â Hungary submitted its request to join the EU (31 March).[5]
1995 â Neighbouring
Austria joined the EU (1 January).
1997 â The Council decided to launch accession negotiations with Eastern European candidate countries (
Luxembourg, 12â13 December).
1998 â Accession negotiations between the EU and Hungary started.
1999 â The EU reformed the Phare programme to support the preparation for the accession and the
structural funds, and launched the
ISPA and
SAPARD programmes to support the preparation for the
Cohesion Fund and the rural development pillar of the
Common Agricultural Policy.[6]
2002 â Accession negotiations between the EU and Hungary concluded.
2003 â Hungary held a
referendum on joining the EU (12 April). 84% of the valid votes supported the membership.[7]
The first member states (
UK,
Ireland and
Sweden) opened their labour markets for the new member states (the accession treaty allowed up to 7 years transition period).
Prime Minister
Viktor OrbĂĄn likened Brussels to Moscow for the first time (15 March).[12]
The last member states (
Germany and Austria) opened their labour markets for the new member states (the accession treaty allowed up to 7 years transition period).
Hungary requested a second (precautionary) financial assistance from the EU and the IMF (21 November). Later, Hungary was able to finance itself through the market and did not request further assistance.[11]
The European Commission launched infringement procedure against Hungary over the independence of its central bank, data protection authority and judiciary (17 January).[15]
Pro-government demonstration ("peace march") held in Budapest, with the slogan "We will not be a colony" (21 January).[17]
The European Commission was satisfied with changes to central bank statute, but referred the cases of the data protection authority and the judiciary to the
European Court of Justice (25 April).[18] Later, the Court found in both cases that Hungary has infringed EU law.[19][20]
2013
Excessive deficit procedure against Hungary closed (21 June).[21]
With tens of thousands of migrants in Hungary, many frustrated with waiting started ignoring police controls on their way to Austria (4 September).[25]
With qualified majority, the Council established a temporary and exceptional mechanism to relocate 120.000 refugees from
Greece and
Italy to other member states (22 September).[26] Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania voted against the plan.[27] Hungary and Slovakia asked the European Court of Justice to annul the decision, but in 2017 the Court dismissed the actions.[28]
In Poland, the Eurosceptic
Law and Justice party won the
election and formed government becoming a key ally to Viktor OrbĂĄn (25 October).[29]
2016
Hungary repaid the 2008 bailout credit to the EU (6 April).[30]
Hungary held a
referendum on the EU's refugee relocation plans (2 October). 98% of the valid votes rejected the relocation; however, with 44% turnout the result cannot be considered valid.[31]
The
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) found serious irregularities in the Budapest metro line project funded by the EU and linked mainly to Socialist governments.[32]
2017
The Hungarian government launched a domestic campaign entitled "Let's stop Brussels!", suggesting that "Brussels" wanted to force Hungary to let in illegal migrants (March).[33]
As Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland did not implement the 2015 Council Decision on relocation of refugees, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against those three Member States (14 June).[15]
The European Commission referred the cases to the European Court of Justice (7 December).[15] Later, the Court found that the three member states have failed to fulfil their obligations under EU law.[34]
2018
OLAF found serious irregularities in projects funded by the EU and run by a company once co-owned by the son-in-law of Viktor OrbĂĄn. The Hungarian prosecution launched a probe but soon dropped it.[35][36]
Significant deviation procedure launched against Hungary (18 June; the first such procedure was launched the previous year against Romania).[37]
The European Parliament initiated to trigger
Article 7 procedure against Hungary for persistently breaching the EUâs founding values (report by MEP
Judith Sargentini, 12 September; the first such procedure was initiated the previous year against Poland, by the European Commission).[38]
2019
Ahead of the
European Parliament election, the Hungarian government launched a domestic campaign entitled "You too have the right to know what Brussels is planning!", suggesting that the Commission had a secret plan to promote migration. The Commission rejected the claims (28 February).[39]
The Commission published the first reports on rule of law in the Member States (20 September).[45]
Hungary and Poland threatened to veto the EU budget if linked to rule of law conditionality, but finally a compromise was agreed (10 December).[46][47]
2021
The Hungarian parliament passed
Act LXXIX, which included banning educational material and content depicting LGBT people in schools and on TV (15 June).[48] In response, 17 EU leaders signed an open letter, vowing to take a stand against discrimination.[49] The European Commission announced it would take legal action.[50][51] The Hungarian government defended the law as a âbill [that] protects the rights of childrenâ and accused the Commission of being biased.[52]
The European Commission launched infringement procedures against Hungary and Poland ârelated to the equality and the protection of fundamental rightsâ (15 July).[53]
2022
The European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the EU, as Hungary failed to respond to the concerns brought up during the 2021 infringement procedures (15 July).[54][55]
The European Commission froze regular EU-payouts and grants allocated to Hungary because of breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary (18 September).[56][57] Hungary committed to 17 judicial reform measures in order to unlock the grants (7 November).[58]
The member states decided to suspend EUR 6.3 billion of the grants due to Hungary having only partially implemented the proposed reforms (12 December).[57][59]
2023
Neighbouring Croatia joined the Eurozone (1 January).[60]
The European Commission blocked Fidesz-linked universities from signing new
Erasmus+ and
Horizon Europe grants (January).[61][62]
1994 â Hungary submitted its request to join the EU (31 March).[5]
1995 â Neighbouring
Austria joined the EU (1 January).
1997 â The Council decided to launch accession negotiations with Eastern European candidate countries (
Luxembourg, 12â13 December).
1998 â Accession negotiations between the EU and Hungary started.
1999 â The EU reformed the Phare programme to support the preparation for the accession and the
structural funds, and launched the
ISPA and
SAPARD programmes to support the preparation for the
Cohesion Fund and the rural development pillar of the
Common Agricultural Policy.[6]
2002 â Accession negotiations between the EU and Hungary concluded.
2003 â Hungary held a
referendum on joining the EU (12 April). 84% of the valid votes supported the membership.[7]
The first member states (
UK,
Ireland and
Sweden) opened their labour markets for the new member states (the accession treaty allowed up to 7 years transition period).
Prime Minister
Viktor OrbĂĄn likened Brussels to Moscow for the first time (15 March).[12]
The last member states (
Germany and Austria) opened their labour markets for the new member states (the accession treaty allowed up to 7 years transition period).
Hungary requested a second (precautionary) financial assistance from the EU and the IMF (21 November). Later, Hungary was able to finance itself through the market and did not request further assistance.[11]
The European Commission launched infringement procedure against Hungary over the independence of its central bank, data protection authority and judiciary (17 January).[15]
Pro-government demonstration ("peace march") held in Budapest, with the slogan "We will not be a colony" (21 January).[17]
The European Commission was satisfied with changes to central bank statute, but referred the cases of the data protection authority and the judiciary to the
European Court of Justice (25 April).[18] Later, the Court found in both cases that Hungary has infringed EU law.[19][20]
2013
Excessive deficit procedure against Hungary closed (21 June).[21]
With tens of thousands of migrants in Hungary, many frustrated with waiting started ignoring police controls on their way to Austria (4 September).[25]
With qualified majority, the Council established a temporary and exceptional mechanism to relocate 120.000 refugees from
Greece and
Italy to other member states (22 September).[26] Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania voted against the plan.[27] Hungary and Slovakia asked the European Court of Justice to annul the decision, but in 2017 the Court dismissed the actions.[28]
In Poland, the Eurosceptic
Law and Justice party won the
election and formed government becoming a key ally to Viktor OrbĂĄn (25 October).[29]
2016
Hungary repaid the 2008 bailout credit to the EU (6 April).[30]
Hungary held a
referendum on the EU's refugee relocation plans (2 October). 98% of the valid votes rejected the relocation; however, with 44% turnout the result cannot be considered valid.[31]
The
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) found serious irregularities in the Budapest metro line project funded by the EU and linked mainly to Socialist governments.[32]
2017
The Hungarian government launched a domestic campaign entitled "Let's stop Brussels!", suggesting that "Brussels" wanted to force Hungary to let in illegal migrants (March).[33]
As Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland did not implement the 2015 Council Decision on relocation of refugees, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against those three Member States (14 June).[15]
The European Commission referred the cases to the European Court of Justice (7 December).[15] Later, the Court found that the three member states have failed to fulfil their obligations under EU law.[34]
2018
OLAF found serious irregularities in projects funded by the EU and run by a company once co-owned by the son-in-law of Viktor OrbĂĄn. The Hungarian prosecution launched a probe but soon dropped it.[35][36]
Significant deviation procedure launched against Hungary (18 June; the first such procedure was launched the previous year against Romania).[37]
The European Parliament initiated to trigger
Article 7 procedure against Hungary for persistently breaching the EUâs founding values (report by MEP
Judith Sargentini, 12 September; the first such procedure was initiated the previous year against Poland, by the European Commission).[38]
2019
Ahead of the
European Parliament election, the Hungarian government launched a domestic campaign entitled "You too have the right to know what Brussels is planning!", suggesting that the Commission had a secret plan to promote migration. The Commission rejected the claims (28 February).[39]
The Commission published the first reports on rule of law in the Member States (20 September).[45]
Hungary and Poland threatened to veto the EU budget if linked to rule of law conditionality, but finally a compromise was agreed (10 December).[46][47]
2021
The Hungarian parliament passed
Act LXXIX, which included banning educational material and content depicting LGBT people in schools and on TV (15 June).[48] In response, 17 EU leaders signed an open letter, vowing to take a stand against discrimination.[49] The European Commission announced it would take legal action.[50][51] The Hungarian government defended the law as a âbill [that] protects the rights of childrenâ and accused the Commission of being biased.[52]
The European Commission launched infringement procedures against Hungary and Poland ârelated to the equality and the protection of fundamental rightsâ (15 July).[53]
2022
The European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the EU, as Hungary failed to respond to the concerns brought up during the 2021 infringement procedures (15 July).[54][55]
The European Commission froze regular EU-payouts and grants allocated to Hungary because of breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary (18 September).[56][57] Hungary committed to 17 judicial reform measures in order to unlock the grants (7 November).[58]
The member states decided to suspend EUR 6.3 billion of the grants due to Hungary having only partially implemented the proposed reforms (12 December).[57][59]
2023
Neighbouring Croatia joined the Eurozone (1 January).[60]
The European Commission blocked Fidesz-linked universities from signing new
Erasmus+ and
Horizon Europe grants (January).[61][62]