Economy: Ursula von der Leyen: Hungarians and Poles will appeal to the European Court instead of vetoing

On EU Thursday, the EU heads of state and government continued to call on the German presidency to find a solution to the Hungarian-Polish veto. Warsaw and Budapest are currently blocking the EU budget of 1 billion euros and the reconstruction fund of 750 billion euros for the next seven years due to the rule of law.

Yesterday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas spoke about reaching an agreement with the Poles and Hungarians in a few days and removing the obstacles. However, he did not reveal details. On the same day, it was revealed that on Thursday Viktor Orbán will meet his Polish colleague, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Budapest.

However, in the debate in the European Parliament in the run-up to the EU summit in December, the main political groups confirmed that they had no intention of changing anything in the proposal that they had already accepted and rejected by the governments of Hungary and Poland. Rather, it has been suggested that anyone who has a problem with any EU legislation should go to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Preparations for the next summit of Heads of State and Government will be on the regular agenda of the plenary session of the European Parliament, if it can be expected in the coming days and weeks. These discussions address the most important items on the summit agenda. The next summit will be from December 10 to 11. The nearly three-hour debate was entirely determined by the Hungarian-Polish budget lockdown, and again Viktor Orbán was the most mentioned politician. Brexit and climate change were also discussed in particular.

Interestingly, the German Presidency was not represented, although MEPs are understandably curious as to where the search for a deal is headed. German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass said that Reutersthat are in the final but difficult stage of negotiations, but that in a few days they will reach an agreement with the two blocking governments.

New hope: the Court of Justice of the European Communities

There, however, was Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, who said that millions of Europeans must not be allowed to remain in doubt. He added that action should also be taken for those who fear for their work in Poland and Hungary. And he affirmed that anyone who has a problem with a new regulation can seek justice before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The same was said by the leader of the People’s Party, Manfred Weber, who said that the Hungarian-Polish veto was irresponsible. He believes that Viktor Orbán is wrong when he says that the Lisbon Treaty does not allow the rule of law to be accepted. Put it this way:

Go to court, there you can clarify them, so that you can act in the EU, not with a veto.

The former are important because this argument has not yet been made during the debates, but at the same time it indicates that the demands of the governments of Hungary and Poland are rejected, that is, they do not want to discuss it. Any government of a Member State has the right to refer a matter of EU law to the Court of Justice of the European Union in the context of a form of constitutional review. This is what the governments of Hungary and Slovakia did, for example, when they tried to prohibit the mandatory distribution of refugees in the so-called quota lawsuit, but that lawsuit failed.

The EP position remains unchanged, as evidenced by the fact that Iratxe García Pérez, leader of the second largest group, the Social Democrats, said:

We will not change any commas in the rule of law system, as requested by the European electorate, the mayors of the Hungarian trade unions, Warsaw and Budapest.

Dacian Ciolos, on behalf of the European Renewal Group, called it ridiculous to accuse the EU of Soviet-style operations, especially as someone queuing up like a despot to receive Putin’s first vaccine.

Windshield parachute

As usual, the populist extreme right defended the Hungarian and Polish positions. According to Marco Zanni, leader of the Identity and Democracy faction in Italy, the veto is legitimate, it is surprising that someone is surprised by this.

The dictatorship of the majority should not be followed

Added. This opinion was also shared by the Conservative Group and, at the same time, the chairman of the Polish ruling party, former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. According to him, the majority would bind EU funds to conditions that are not included in the treaties, so the will of the majority cannot be arbitrarily imposed on the minority.

This time Márton Gyöngyösi, a right-wing MEP, spoke on behalf of the unregistered MPs. He drew attention to the importance of unity, mentioning that he also works as a conservative with the Social Democrats, for example.

I am not asking you to do the work for us in Hungary, we will solve this

– Gyöngyösi pointed out that the budget debate takes place at European level. But not only Hungarian domestic politics, but also Italy’s were moved by this issue. An Italian MP asked him how members of a party called the Italian Brothers could support Viktor Orbán, who is now taking funds away from Italians. The stakeholder representative responded with surprising caution in a subsequent speech that “a solution must be found to get out of it those who block the process.”

Fidesz agrees with the Popular Party

Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch spoke of agreeing with the statements of the main politicians of the Popular Party. He recalled that Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council and current president of the People’s Party, had said two years ago that “conditioning the EU budget resources on the rule of law is a risky step and a step in the wrong direction.” According to Tusk, it would not be good for Europe to confuse these two regulations, and the resources we allocate to different tasks in the budget should not be subject to purely political criteria. He also cited similar rejection rulings from Jean-Claude Juncker, former president of the European Commission, and Manfred Weber. Finally, he stated that Fidesz’s position had not changed.

We continue to defend the original position of the Popular Party, which rejects the instrument of political extortion!

Katalin Cseh, a Momentum politician, spoke of the opportunities to implement historic plans, “we have our own resources and we have the condition of the rule of law.” He noted that parliament would not step back because “it would be a historical mistake and a political weakness.”

In the debate, several suggested that the Reconstruction Fund be managed in the context of so-called enhanced cooperation under the EU Treaties, which does not require the support of all Member States. Such a system is, for example, the Schengen area or the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.