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After a meeting with European Commission officials in Brussels, Jaroslaw Gowin said in a Reuters report that they see that a budget veto would financially harm both Poland and other EU countries, against their intentions, and they don’t want that. . He also said that if it were no longer really possible to change the draft regulation on the conditionality of EU money (which does not seem possible because neither the European Parliament nor the other 25 member states want it), they would be content with a binding law. with a valid statement from the Commission stating that the mechanism can only be used in the context of EU money and only objectively and that this statement is also expected to be confirmed by the Heads of State and Government at the Summit from the EU next week.
According to the news agency, the Polish Deputy Prime Minister said:
This explanatory statement of the Commission must also be endorsed by the Heads of State and Government. This may make it clear that the rule of law mechanism could not be used to pressure Member States in areas outside of the proper use of EU funds.
The last words of the statement may suggest that the scope of the mechanism could be reduced, which would allow the initiation of procedures leading to EU-funded sanctions under 6 specific, very broad and vague conditions. The 21-page draft specific regulation of the rule of law mechanism (and this 6 + 1 condition) was first written in detail by the Portfolio on November 6 and is available here. Referring to this, the ambassadors of Hungary and Poland signaled a political veto on November 16 during resolutions on the EU budget and the recovery fund. This was done because the support of a qualified majority of Member States (at least 15 Member States representing at least 65% of the combined population) is sufficient for a strict rule of law mechanism, so the clear support of more out of 20 Member States would have easily rejected Hungarian and Polish partners. during a formal vote. In these other two regulations, which required unanimity, they wanted to prevent and soften the mechanism of the rule of law with a veto.
To this end, the two heads of government first adopted a two-step declaration in Budapest on November 24 as a way out of the stalemate, which included the goal of significantly softening the mechanism and accepting it in the fog of the future to change of vetoes. This was essentially rejected by the German Presidency and the other 25 member states and the European Parliament, so the two heads of government met again in Warsaw on November 30 to discuss their strategies. They then declared that they were open to proposals from the German presidency and discussed various possible variations of a solution.
On the same day, Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel refuted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s argument about the rule of law mechanism and asked all parties involved to allow it, because otherwise the “circle square “It cannot be resolved, that is, a compromise is needed. After that, intense negotiations have taken place in recent days, while news has leaked from Brussels about the solution that would allow the community to move forward if the Polish-Hungarian veto were maintained, and this morning we also summarize the possible scenarios . In this, Reuters has already indicated a new data. It was said that the
AT THE FUTURE WEEKLY EU SUMMIT, HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT WILL CONSIDER THAT A DECLARATION IS ISSUED
This and the earlier signal from the Polish Deputy Prime Minister are very confusing and there has been talk of a judicial challenge in recent days. Thus, in line with this written guarantee, there are indications that the attitude of the Polish government towards the veto has changed.
It is not yet known which side the Polish sign tonight means (and if so, a substantive or only symbolic concession) in the veto. The content of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum and its specific impact (to what extent it limits the applicability of the draft regulation, for example after its entry into force in early 2021) is unknown. Given that the Hungarian and Polish governments are working closely on the veto on the basis of the Budapest declaration last Thursday, and either of them reject a solution that is not suitable for the other, it follows from the previous strong Polish signal that the Hungarian government will change its veto position. However, we cannot state this with certainty yet, as no such signal has been received from the Hungarian government.
Cover Image Source: MTI / Prime Minister’s Press Office / Zoltán Fischer. In the photo published by the Prime Minister’s Press Office, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (b) and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (j) will meet in Warsaw on November 30, 2020. For the second time in a week, the Two heads of government will meet in person, and today’s bilateral meeting aims to discuss further steps in the EU budget negotiations and the upcoming EU summit.
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