Hungary and Poland veto EU budget decision over conditions they cannot meet

(Patria) – Hungary and Poland have vetoed the EU decision on the financial package for recovery from the coronavirus, amounting to one trillion euros, because it is conditional on respecting the rule of law.

Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs commented to Euronews that recent changes to the proposal have turned into 'political blackmail'.

He explained that the Hungarian government has not changed its stance, and that the new proposal is not based on 'objective criteria'.

EU ambassadors met on Monday afternoon in Brussels to discuss the proposal that has provoked a strong reaction from the governments of Hungary and Poland. These countries oppose conditioning financial support on respecting the rule of law because in recent years, they have been criticized by official Brussels precisely due to numerous indicators of faltering democracies.

Debates on the EU's long-term budget (2021-2027), involving the European Parliament, the Council, and the Commission, are taking place amidst a long-standing dispute between member states and members of parliament regarding the budget and the rule of law.

The long-standing discussion has finally resulted in an agreement on the amount the EU can spend in the next 7 years. This is a sum of 1.8 trillion euros, of which 750 billion euros are allocated to the recovery fund from the coronavirus, known as 'NextGenerationEU'.

The remaining money, 1.074 trillion euros, will constitute the EU's long-term budget, also known as the 'Multiannual Financial Framework' (MFF).

However, members of the European Parliament insisted that money transfers be linked to respect for democratic values, human rights, and judicial independence.

According to the new mechanism, individual member states could lose their veto right, as well as part of their financial support, if a majority of other member states supported such a move.

Last week, the three EU negotiating parties reached an agreement to speed up the process of distributing financial aid to economies severely affected by the pandemic.

However, with the veto of Hungary and Poland, the entire process could be blocked for some time, writes Euronews.