Hungary threatened and complied: it vetoed the long-term European budget, due to the multi-annual budget’s conditionality mechanism with respect for the rule of law. The unofficial announcement was made by the international spokesman for Viktor Orbán’s office on Twitter. But the spokesman for the German presidency also said that yet another state showed disagreement, as the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, had signaled, that he would do.
“Hungary vetoed the Budget, as Prime Minister Orbán warned, because we cannot support the plan in the current way of linking the rule of law criteria to budgetary decisions – it goes against the July Council conclusions,” wrote Zoltan Kovacs, in a Twitter post.
Hungary has vetoed the budget, as PM Orbán warned, because we cannot support the plan in its present form to tie rule of law criteria to budget decisions – It runs contrary to the July Council conclusions. https://t.co/n0O2LtoLNv
– Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) November 16, 2020
In a previous publication, published on Wednesday morning, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s spokesman argued that it was not the country that had changed its position and stance, stressing 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 German presidency spokesman, Sebastian Fischer, has also signaled that during the meeting that is taking place this Monday in Brussels, the ambassadors of the European Union “confirmed the compromise text by qualified majority” on the regulation on protection Budget, the conditionality mechanism. However, on the second item on the agenda, he added that “two Member States expressed reservations regarding their opposition to an element of the overall package, but not to the substance of the MFF agreement” and linked to the Recovery Fund.
‼️ #COREPER update: The 2nd decision was on the agreement in principle on the Multiannual Financial Framework & Recovery Package
???? 2 EUMS expressed reservations with regard to their opposition to 1 element of the overall 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, with the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, admitted to using his “right of protest”. “In the past few 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’s ambassadors “were unable to obtain the necessary unanimity to initiate the written procedure due to reservations expressed by the two Member States” regarding the decision of own resources.
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 recent months between the European Council and the European Parliament, which reached an agreement on Tuesday of last week, and could lead to delays in the implementation of European aid.
European leaders are now meeting by video conference on Thursday, at a European Council that was already on the agenda.
(Updated at 3:39 pm)
–
