Hungarian government halts subsidy program for Republika Srpska

The Hungarian government has discontinued the program of subsidies intended exclusively for the purchasing of agricultural machinery by farmers in the Republika Srpska in 2026, according to Radio Slobodna Evropa.

The paper recalled that the subsidy program was part of the 100-million-euro aid package announced in 2022 by then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.

Under the agreement, farmers could purchase machinery manufactured in Hungary, with a minimum 30 percent contribution of their own. The aid intended for the Republika Srpska was channeled through the Budapest-based Central European Economic Development Network (CED), which administered the program on behalf of the Hungarian government.

As of the time of their article’s publication, Radio Free Europe’s Balkan service had received no response from either the Hungarian government or the CED as to the reasons for the program’s termination, nor is anything known about its possible continuation or the fate of the remaining funds from the previously announced 100-million-euro aid package.

Milorad Dodik, who had developed a close relationship with former Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, stepped down from the presidency of the Republika Srpska last year, even though he previously refused to acknowledge that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina had stripped him of his mandate in a final and binding ruling. On August 1 of 2025, the court also sentenced the politician to one year in prison and barred him from holding public office for six years.