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Hungary threatened and complied: it vetoed the European budget in the long term, due to the conditionality mechanism of the multi-annual budget with respect to the rule of law. The unofficial announcement was made by the international spokesperson for Viktor Orbán’s office on Twitter. But the spokesman for the German presidency also said another state disagreed, as Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had pointed out that it would.
“Hungary vetoed the budget, as Prime Minister Orbán warned, because we cannot support the plan in the current way of linking rule of law criteria with budget decisions; it goes against the July Council conclusions,” Zoltan wrote Kovacs. in a Twitter post.
Hungary has vetoed the budget, as Prime Minister Orbán warned, because we cannot support the plan in its current form to link rule of law criteria to budget decisions. It is contrary to the conclusions of the July Council. https://t.co/n0O2LtoLNv
– Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) November 16, 2020
In a previous publication, published this Wednesday morning, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s spokesman argued that it was not the country that had changed its position and stance, highlighting that “before participating in the debate on the MFF [Quadro Financeiro Plurianual]/ Next Generation, Prime Minister Orbán received a mandate from the Hungarian Parliament on the direction we should take ”.
“If a Hungarian veto could lead to a crisis? I repeat: the burden of responsibility falls on those who gave rise to this situation, “he added.
The spokesman for the German presidency, Sebastian Fischer, has also indicated that during the meeting that takes place this Monday in Brussels, the EU ambassadors “confirmed the compromise text by qualified majority” on the protection regulation. Budget, the conditionality mechanism. However, he added that “two member states have expressed reservations regarding their opposition to an element of the global package, but not to the substance of the MFF agreement.”
‼ ️ #COREPER update: The second decision was based on the agreement in principle on the multiannual financial framework and the recovery package
👉 2 EUMS expressed reservations regarding their opposition to an element of the general package, but not to the substance of the #MFF agreement
– Sebastian Fischer (@SFischer_EU) November 16, 2020
In addition to Hungary, Poland had also claimed to be against the clause, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki admitted to using his “right to protest”. “In recent days, I sent a letter to EU leaders to underline our position on a conditionality mechanism in the EU budget,” the European leader wrote in a Twitter post last week.
Sebastian Fischer added this afternoon that the European Union ambassadors “could not obtain the necessary unanimity to initiate the written procedure due to the reservations expressed by the two member states” regarding the own resources decision.
In practice, the two countries blocked progress towards the realization of the European Budget and the Recovery Fund, by preventing the validation of the commitment on the European Union Budget 2021-2027, which amounts to 1.8 billion euros and was negotiated in the last months between the European Council and the European Parliament, which reached an agreement on Tuesday of last week, and which could cause delays in the implementation of European aid.
This Thursday a European Council by videoconference is scheduled.
(In update)
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