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Poland and Hungary have been blocking the next seven-year European Union (EU) budget for a few weeks, and therefore also urgently need billions in economic aid from the Brussels Crown. The two countries are bothered by a new clause that links the allocation of EU funds to compliance with the rule of law from 2021.
Now, shortly before the EU summit, Poland is signaling an understanding with Germany in the EU budget dispute. “There is an agreement on the Warsaw-Berlin-Budapest triangle,” Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin said in Warsaw. He believed that the other 24 EU capitals could also support this deal. Germany currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU and a half in the dispute between Poland, Hungary and the EU.
Gowin did not elaborate on what the solution would look like. He is optimistic that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will be able to negotiate a “good deal” on the EU budget at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.
The dispute is over a rule of law mechanism linked to the budget. This should make it possible from 2021 to sanction violations of constitutional rules with the reduction of EU funds. The EU Commission hopes to capture the course of Poland and Hungary: in recent years the independence of the judiciary has been restricted, freedom of the media has been restricted and pressure on schools, universities and institutions has increased cultural. Poland also opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Just “an inch” from a solution
Except for the two countries, all EU countries are in favor of introducing the rule of law mechanism. Meanwhile, voices are being raised from some EU states to allow the conflict to escalate (read more about this here).
The budget veto could mean that the EU initially only has a kind of emergency budget at its disposal. Numerous programs in areas such as research, health, education and youth could not start. But on Tuesday night, after speaking with Morawiecki in Warsaw, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the solution was only “an inch” away.
