Unsurprisingly, there was no convergence of positions on the rule of law and the budget among member states in the so-called EU General Affairs Council, which was attended by European ministers. In the debate, 13 Member States spoke in favor of the rule of law and 2 against.

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Hungary was represented by Judit Varga, Minister of Justice, who also had a conflict with the outgoing President, the German Minister of State Michael Roth. Varga said that the rule of law is an ideology, but Roth rejected it. Added

You cannot imagine anyone comparing the EU to authoritarian regimes taking this seriously.

One, but certainly the most important, point of the ministerial deliberations was the review of the negotiations on the budget and the recovery fund. Michael Roth told his colleagues what everyone already knew: the rule of law associated with EU money was supported by most member states in an ambassador-level meeting on Monday. As is well known, Hungary and Poland, out of the 27 Member States, have taken the opposite view, but the support of the qualified majority of the Member States is sufficient on this issue. The same two Member States refused to support the budget for the next seven years and the necessary own resources system for the recovery fund. Unanimity here would have been necessary, so the Hungarian and Polish blockades have suspended for the moment the continuation of the package totaling 1.8 billion euros.

Representatives from 15 Member States spoke on this issue during the debate. Thirteen (Austria, Italy, Denmark, Slovakia, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Croatia, France and Slovenia) were in favor of the package and two (Hungary, Poland) opposed. Supporters said the compromise reached with the European Parliament was good and essential for Europeans to have access to the resources they deserved. Italian Minister Vincenzo Amendola spoke about not being afraid of the rule of law, and you cannot explain to people why the money will be delayed. The Portuguese Secretary of State for Europe, Ana-Paola Zacarias, said that when we are faced with an economic and social tragedy, no member state should brag. Several have similarly argued, drawing attention to the fact that the EU needs to deal with the crisis enough now, there is no shortage of another. And almost everyone reminded me of the responsibility of those who now veto it.

However, Judit Varga could not be convinced. He summarized the position of the Hungarian government that as long as there is no agreement on everything, there is nothing about it. However, according to Hungary, this agreement on the rule of law goes beyond what was agreed by the Heads of State and Government in July.

They want to starve the country, they want to hurt Hungary, I don’t understand how they expect us to support this

Varga said.

Konrad Szymański, on behalf of the Polish government, said that the rule of law was not the problem because it was also included in the Polish constitution. The problem is the lack of legal guarantees, legal certainty, so that “yesterday’s events (that is, the veto – to ed.) no one should be surprised. ‘

EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn has tried to convince skeptics that the rule of law mechanism applies equally to all Member States and works on the basis of objective criteria, in a fair procedure.

Ministers were left with the need for more negotiations, but time is dangerously running out as the two funds, totaling 1.8 billion euros, will be launched on January 1 next year.



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