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On Thursday, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban urged Hungary and Poland to abandon lockdown procedures to adopt the European Union budget and the Economic Recovery Fund, arguing that all European citizens are affected by the current stalemate.
“The blocking of the adoption of a decision on the Recovery Plan affects the entire EU, including the citizens of Hungary and Poland,” Ludovic Orban said in an interview with France-Presse.
The Romanian prime minister said he was confident that “in the end an agreement will be reached”, but rejected the arguments of Hungary and Poland, which oppose the introduction of the rule of law mechanism. “Compliance with the rule of law is a guarantee for all taxpayers that the money will be spent correctly, in the public interest,” Ludovic Orban said in an interview with AFP, according to France 24.
“The governments of countries that oppose conditionality must understand that it is necessary to generate public trust in this program, which is extremely important to relaunch the economy of the whole of Europe, for the benefit of the citizens of Poland and Hungary,” argued Ludovic Orban. in another interview, granted to the Politico.eu website. “I do not think that a government can tell its own citizens that this plan should be blocked. All taxpayers of the EU member states must have the guarantee that the money is used correctly,” stressed the Romanian prime minister.
Hungary and Poland are frequently criticized by the European Union for the rule of law. In turn, Romania was criticized in 2017-2019 due to judicial reforms, France 24 notes.
But Ludovic Orban says the situation has improved in Romania. “Here in Romania, we did our homework and now it really is the rule of law,” the prime minister said.
On Monday afternoon, Hungary and Poland blocked a necessary procedure for the adoption of the multiannual EU budget and the European economic recovery plan. During a meeting of EU ambassadors, representatives of Hungary and Poland blocked the own resources decision procedure necessary for the approval of the EU Economic Recovery Fund. For its part, Slovenia on Thursday opposed the rule of law mechanism.
Hungary and Poland have repeatedly signaled their disagreement with the new rule of law mechanism, warning that it could block approval of the EU’s multi-year budget and economic recovery fund.
The German Presidency of the Council of the EU has just reached an agreement with the European Parliament on the EU budget for 2021-2027. But to enter into force, the draft multi-year budget of 1,074,300 million euros and the relaunch fund of 750,000 million euros must be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The vote in the Council of the EU is unanimous, so only one Member State can block the adoption of the decision.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently warned, in a letter sent to European Union leaders, that he will block approval of the multi-year budget bill if the rule of law rule is introduced. “Although Hungary feels obliged to cooperate in the context of new developments, we may not guarantee the unanimity necessary for the formal approval of the draft budget decided in July,” Viktor Orban said in a letter. Viktor Orban considers that the rule of law mechanism contains “unclear definitions of breaches of the rules”, so that “political abuses may occur”.
The German Presidency of the Council of the European Union has reached an agreement with the negotiators of the European Parliament on a mechanism to condition access to Community funds on compliance with the rule of law, a system that could operate by qualified majority. The interim agreement was reached on the basis of recommendations made at the July European Council summit and must be formally approved by the EU Council and the European Parliament. According to EU officials quoted by the German publication Der Spiegel, the European Commission will make official proposals to sanction a state that does not comply with the rule of law. The sanction decision will be made by the EU Council by qualified majority: the votes of 15 EU states, representing 65% of the EU population (a procedure also called the “double majority” rule).
READ HERE: Romanian MEPs are optimistic even if the EU budget is now blocked by Hungary and Poland
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