Péter Magyar formed his cabinet on 12 May 2026, completing the government formation that followed his party's 137-seat two-thirds supermajority victory on 12 April1. The incoming foreign minister pledged that Hungary will stop abusing EU veto rights2. The €9.1 billion first tranche, comprising €5.9 billion military aid and €3.2 billion budget support, is now confirmed for early June, sliding from the late-May window previously expected.
Magyar had targeted 5 May for government formation, missing that self-set target before completing cabinet on 12 May. The constitutional assembly session on 9 May had set the stage. Hungary's exclusion from EU joint borrowing, a consequence of its prior veto posture, means it opts out of the financial obligations of the €90 billion package while not blocking the remaining 26 member states from proceeding.
The disbursement mechanics require three steps after Hungary's formal position change: the European Commission finalises its three-document coordination package, the EU Council re-stages its vote, and the tranche issues. The early-June target implies those steps clear within two to three weeks of the 12 May cabinet formation. EU Council approval of the €90 billion Ukraine loan on 23 April established the authorisation; what remained was the Hungary veto blocking the council's disbursement vote.
For Ukraine's fiscal position, the tranche matters beyond its face value. The €5.9 billion military component is the equivalent of roughly 19% of Ukraine's annual defence budget at 2025 spending levels, arriving at a point when the country has been absorbing a 800-drone barrage at the start of the week. Early-June disbursement versus a Q3 slip is a question of whether the parliamentary calendar holds against the three-document coordination dependency.
