At the Brussels summit on Thursday, the presidents and prime ministers of the European Union countries broke the stalemate over the future seven-year budget and the coronavirus crisis fund, the approval of which has so far been blocked by Hungary and Poland.
The Heads of State and Government have agreed on compromise rules under which the use of EU money will be conditional on respect for the independence of the judiciary. The prime ministers of Hungary and Poland, as well as the leaders of other states, called it a success.
From next year, the budget and the associated fund with a total value of over 1.8 trillion euros (almost 50 trillion crowns) will be available to all 27 Member States.
“Now we can start to put the budget into practice and put our economies back on their feet,” Michel announced on Twitter.
The leaders agreed with the proposal of the German presidency, which persuaded Budapest and Warsaw to withdraw the veto. The clarification text sets out a number of additional conditions under which a country can be cut off from EU finances if it does not respect the rule of law.
The two Central European countries, with which the EU institutions have been conducting proceedings for several years due to fears of restricting the independence of the judiciary or the media, did not initially want to accept the condition at all, but called the negotiating assurance text good for several weeks.
According to the PAP agency, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the agreement a “double victory” for his country. According to him, on the one hand, Warsaw will receive money from the EU fund and at the same time will not be able to lose it, because very detailed criteria for the use of the new conditionality have been set. “We have received proof that the EU stands for the unity of countries,” said his Hungarian colleague Viktor Orbán at a joint press conference, according to which it is essential that the union decides unanimously on the most important matters.
Countries that are among the most vocal supporters of the new mechanism – such as France, the Netherlands and Belgium – have expressed concerns that the additional conditions do not restrict its functioning too much, but in the end have agreed to it. For example, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte demanded assurances that the additional text would not bother MEPs, most of whom had a strong commitment to money and government. EP chief David Sassoli then told leaders that he considered the compromise acceptable.
“Europe is moving forward, united and with its values,” French President Emmanuel Macron responded on Twitter.
The approved text states, inter alia, that the application of the new rule will be “objective, fair, impartial and factual.” The proposal also envisages that if the European Commission wants to stop drawing subsidies to a state on the basis of a condition related to the rule of law, the matter will first have to be assessed by an EU court. According to Morawiecki, Poland will certainly turn to him because of the mechanism.
“I understand that some countries may want to go to the EU Court of Justice on this issue for complete legal certainty. It is their right. I expect this process to be rapid. In my opinion, it will be months rather than years,” she said after approval. compromise by the Vice-President of the Commission, Věra Jourová. She described as positive the fact that nothing had changed on the principle itself.
If an agreement could not be reached, the EU was threatened with a provisional budget. However, in the case of the three-quarters-trillion-euro reconstruction fund, the other countries were prepared to bypass Hungary and Poland, losing tens of billions of euros.
Joint action in easing restrictions and sanctions against Russia
At the same time, the countries of the European Union will coordinate more the gradual release of coronavirus restrictions, which are currently still necessary in the fight against the spread of the disease, the leaders agreed. At the same time, political leaders supported the strengthening of the Union’s common health policy. According to them, countries should prepare in time for the joint distribution of vaccines and effectively inform their citizens about the importance of vaccination.
Since the first wave of the spring, the EU executive has been trying to persuade member states to harmonize the fight against the pandemic, but often without much success.
The leaders also agreed to further extend economic sanctions against Russia by half a year. According to EU leaders, Moscow is still not complying with the Minsk peace agreements, which demand a solution to the situation in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
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