The Hungarian state will have to refund a total of HUF 289 billion (just under EUR 800 million) in taxes that were unlawfully levied on several large companies.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the refunds will primarily affect the MOL Group and Nitrogénművek Pét, as well as the country’s major cement producers, which are owned by the German Heidelberg Materials and Schwenk Zement consortium and the Swiss Holcim Group.
Since 2023, these companies had been required to pay EUR 36 per tonne of CO₂ emissions, plus a 15% transaction fee. The Orbán government based the levy on the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) and applied it to all companies generating more than 25,000 tonnes of pollutant emissions per year.
According to expert estimates, the levy amounted to as much as 8–14% of the affected companies’ revenues.