Hungary's ruling party is seeking to deflect blame for the continued suspension of EU funds by singling out a recent remark made by Kinga Kollar, an opposition MEP of the Tisza Party, in which she described the impact of the freeze on Hungary's EU funds as a positive development politically.

Fidesz will launch a signature drive "so that those plotting with Brussels against Hungary should disappear from public life," faction leader Mate Kocsis said on April 13, in what appears to be the start of another misinformation campaign for the ruling nationalist party aimed at diverting attention from financial scandal involving lost funds at MNB foundations. 

The hysteria began after pro-government media and Fidesz MEPs seized on a short excerpt from Kollar's speech during a hearing at the EP's Budgetary Control Committee, in which she talked about the effectiveness of the rule of law conditionality procedure, under which the EU suspended €21bn in funds to Hungary, of which €1bn has been irrevocably lost.

Kollar cautioned that the mechanism may be reinforcing the domestic narrative of the ruling Fidesz party, which portrays EU pressure as politically motivated and "Hungarophobic." The Hungarian government continues to use the impasse for political gain by blaming Brussels for its own policy mistakes. 

There is one positive side to it, she continued, saying that the deteriorating living standards of Hungarians has strengthened the opposition. “In this sense, I am very positive about the 2026 elections,” she added.

While the government seized on a short excerpt from her remarks, the full transcript shows that Kollar was not propagating or supporting calls to withhold funds from Hungary, analysts said. Fidesz is now desperately trying to strengthen the narrative that the Tisza Party is betraying Hungarian interests.

Fidesz's propaganda machine immediately began to flood social media with posts accusing Tisza of working against national interests by supporting the withholding of EU funds.

Publicist, former Fidesz member and longtime Orban-ally Zsolt Bayer organised a rally on Saturday with government-sponsored Civic Union Forum (COF), drawing a small crowd of several hundred people. Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, accused Tisza MEPs of working to prevent the healthcare sector, teachers and businesses from getting the money they are entitled to. Bayer went further, demanding that Tisza's MEPs be "driven out of public life".

Members of the Tisza Party "are not ashamed to be working against their own country but are proud of it," Prime Minister Viktor Orban joined the crowd of those condemning the opposition party during a radio address on Friday. Tisza members were "happy if things go badly in Hungary" because they saw this as beneficial to the opposition, he added.

The prime minister said: "Anyone capable of doing anything for power and money can't ever be trusted."

Observers noted that in 2006, Orban, then opposition leader and vice-president of the European People's Party, formally called for the suspension of EU payments to Hungary over concerns about alleged fiscal misconduct by the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who now leads the left-wing Democratic Coalition (DK) and who remains a convenient scapegoat for Fidesz. 

In response to the artificial political scandal created by Fidesz, Tisza Party leader Peter Magyar accused veteran leaders of "robbing and betraying" Hungary, labelling the prime minister as "the most corrupt and richest in the country's history."

Magyar's comments came after Orban's radio interview, where he suggested that anyone willing to do anything for power and money could not be trusted.

The Tisza Party leader promised to unlock €22bn in EU funding frozen due to "industrial-scale corruption" if his party wins the 2026 election.

The funds withheld equate to HUF800,000 (€2,000) per person, he said, adding that it would be used to revitalise Hungary's economy, support businesses and farmers, and address issues such as healthcare, education and the cost-of-living crisis.

Magyar also reiterated his party's commitment to joining the EU prosecutor's office to investigate the accumulation of wealth by Hungarian politicians and their families, vowing to tackle corruption head-on.

In other news related to Tisza, the party gathered over 1.1mn votes, online and offline, in the three-week "Voice of the Nation" campaign drive that Peter Magyar announced at the event in Budapest on Sunday.

The 12 questions, ranging from taxation issues, capping the prime minister's salary and limiting the premiership to two terms, received overwhelming support, with most drawing "yes" votes above 90%.

More than 9 out of 10 responded positively to the proposals for introducing voucher cards for pensioners with top-ups of HUF200,000, the reduction of VAT on healthy food products to 5% and scrapping the VAT on medicine.

According to the poll, 99.33% of respondents agreed that recovered national assets should be spent on education, healthcare and rural development, and 98.68% said Hungary should remain a member of the European Union and NATO.

The only exception was the 13th question, which gauged opinion on whether Hungary should support Ukraine's EU accession. Some 58% approved the proposal.

Magyar told supporters that the party's programme will be defined by the results of the Voice of the Nation campaign. 

Addressing the crowd of several thousand people, he confidently predicted that the Tisza Party would win the next election and declared that Fidesz, Hungary's ruling party, had become the largest opposition force.

Magyar, who has visited 106 electoral districts in Hungary during the last three weeks, promised to continue his nationwide tour after Easter, targeting smaller communities where Fidesz continues to be the dominant force.