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IIn Warsaw, Poland’s capital, the liberal mayor had city buses decorated with the European flag on Wednesday, hoping to settle the budget dispute in the EU. The government’s line remained that, together with Hungary, they would block the € 1.8 trillion Corona package with a veto in protest against the new rule of law mechanism.
Thomas gutschker
Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.
Gerhard gnauck
Political Correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.
But then, with Development Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin, the leader of the moderate wing of the national conservative government appeared before the press. In the parliament building he built a phalanx of the members of parliament who were next to him, facing him Gowin. The minister said imploringly: “An agreement is possible that guarantees both the sovereignty of Poland and a common Europe.”
Poland’s legal position will be maintained and more than one hundred billion euros (euros) will be saved for Poland over the next seven years. An agreement in Brussels at the summit would also save the government of the “United Right”. The alternative is early elections and the end of this government.
Germany, Poland and Hungary had more or less reached trade agreements; Gowin did not want to reveal any details. “Of course, they would inform our European partners” and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Orbán was surprisingly in Warsaw
The reaction in Brussels was initially moderate. “We are still waiting for the final confirmation,” said a diplomat. However, Gowin’s statements were neither denied nor considered premature.
The German presidency of the Council of the EU gave Poland and Hungary a final deadline for Wednesday morning Monday to send “clear signals” and move away from their veto against the Corona package. Otherwise, “Plan B” would be started, threatened a high-ranking EU diplomat. The other 25 member states would have at least gone ahead with the € 750 billion Corona reconstruction fund excluding Poland and Hungary. Otherwise, there would have been an emergency budget from the beginning of the year, which would have resulted in painful cuts in structural aid, especially for Poland and Hungary.
On Wednesday morning it initially seemed as if the German “ultimatum”, which shouldn’t be called that, had faded. Even if there had suddenly been a positive signal the night before, but only from the Hungarian side, it was still the case in Brussels.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had traveled to Warsaw as a surprise. The Hungarian said that Morawiecki was “now, so to speak, my boss” because Poland held the presidency of the Visegrád group. Orbán announced on Polish television that “all the money” from Poland and Hungary would be delivered to the countries. But if the Corona development fund, which consists largely of loans, does not materialize, one is also “strong enough to obtain these loans oneself” (and not through the EU).
“Not fought, but inherited”
Orban was noted to emphasize three times that he was now “inches” away from a deal in the EU; he even pointed with his fingers how many centimeters it was. The “real reason” for the contested rule of law mechanism is this: “Western Europeans don’t understand what the rule of law is, they have not fought for the rule of law and prosperity, they inherited it. You didn’t fight, you just read about it. “
