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The news prompted a former German MEP to warn the bloc that its current approach to resolving the crisis with threats amounted to blackmail, and was not a way to resolve the situation. The European Union is currently investigating the nationalist governments of both countries, accusing each of undermining the independence of the judiciary and the media, and has tried to impose conditions on the delivery of EU cash.
However, they both insisted on Thursday that the EU could not do so without changing its founding treaty.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, leader of the right-wing Fidesz party, described threats to withhold emergency funds as “irresponsible, as in a time of crisis quick decisions are needed to help the economy.”
He added: “This debate cannot be resolved with money.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of the Law and Justice Party, speaking alongside Orban in Budapest, added: “The use of the veto today is the baseline scenario we are discussing to really change the bad dynamics that have been imposed recently.”
The veto effectively blocks £ 1.6 trillion in EU funds, including hundreds of billions to be disbursed soon to help the bloc navigate a double-dip recession triggered by a second wave of COVID-19.
A senior EU diplomat suggested that EU member states and MEPs were unwilling to renegotiate the condition that links money to respect for democratic principles.
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Both require the funds to help their economies mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking of the situation, former German MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel told Express.co.uk: “Of course Hungary and Poland have to abide by the rules, rules that they themselves accepted when joining the EU.
“However, any violation must be prosecuted by Article 7 of the Treaty and not by blackmailing countries with the threat of withholding funds.
“The current strategy places Brussels in the role of prosecutor, judge and henchman at the same time.”
However, Henkel added: “On the other hand: the 1.8 trillion euro package is so absurd in its size, its lack of clear purpose and the lack of financial sustainability that any interruption or delay is good news.”
Speaking earlier this week, Pawel Jablonski, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, said his country no longer had faith in the “impartiality of the EU institutions.”
Jablonski told the Spanish newspaper El País: “Since 2016, the Commission has rejected any measure adopted by our Government. We have been like this since 2016.
“They do not treat Poland in the same way as other Member States with very similar regulations. And others are not punished.
“Political differences should not be used as a justification for undertaking financial sanctions.”
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