Hungary reached a "milestone" on its course to secure financial aid from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Hungary's chief negotiator Tamas Fellegi said on Wednesday .

His comments came after the European Commission opened the way to talks with Hungary on financial aid earlier on Wednesday, ending months of acrimony between Budapest and Brussels over the independence of the former's central bank.

The EU is "ready today to enter into the negotiations on financial aid that Hungary asked for," commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said in Brussels on Wednesday.

The next step is to examine the "modalities of these discussions," he added.

But Fellegi told a press conference in Budapest that the size of the loan package had not yet been decided, and that concrete dates have not yet been set for the commencement of talks.

Hungary had preliminary talks with IMF and EU delegations on a precautionary loan last December but the talks stalled due to the EU/IMF's insistence that Hungary changes parts of the Act it deemed threatening to the independence of the bank. These included the enlargement of the interest rate-setting Monetary Council, and the appointment of a third deputy governor.