#BREAKING NEWSπ¨π¨π¨π¨
#EU #HUNGARY #BRUSSEL #CORONAVIRUS
#LEAK
The EU had just announced that it had finally reached a compromise in the negotiations on the budget for the next seven years. But now the Union is facing the next crucial test in the middle of the Corona crisis.
#EU #HUNGARY #BRUSSEL #CORONAVIRUS
#LEAK
The EU had just announced that it had finally reached a compromise in the negotiations on the budget for the next seven years. But now the Union is facing the next crucial test in the middle of the Corona crisis.
As already announced, Hungary actually seems to want to block the budget decision: According to information, the country announced at a meeting of the permanent representatives of the member states that it would not be able to approve the billion dollar financial package.
The reason is apparently that a new instrument to punish violations of the rule of law violates the agreements made by the heads of state and government in July. Should Hungary actually exercise its veto,
the planned European Corona aid of up to 750 billion euros could not be launched as planned. This in turn could have serious economic consequences for countries like Italy. The planned EU budget provides for a volume of just under 1.1 trillion euros for the years 2021 to 2027.
The negotiators of the member states and the European Parliament had been negotiating the budget since September.
The conditionality regulation criticized by Hungary is intended to make it possible to cut EU funds on a large scale if the rule of law in a member state is at risk and the misuse of EU funds is threatened or already taking place.
Specifically, this could be the case, for example, if the lack of independence of the courts in a recipient country enables or even clearly encourages the abuse of EU funds.
The governments in Hungary and Poland in particular have been repeatedly accused of expanding their influence on the judiciary. All attempts to persuade them to change course by political means have so far been unsuccessful.
The criticism is categorically rejected from Warsaw and Budapest. It is still unclear whether Poland will also refuse to approve the financial package because of the planned instrument.
According to information, the permanent representative of the country only let it be known on Wednesday evening that an examination was still ongoing. Because unanimous resolutions are necessary for the core elements of the financial package,
a Hungarian veto would be enough to stop implementation. In contrast, only a qualified majority is required to adopt the condicenaltiy regulation. This has already been achieved when 15 EU states agree, which together make up at least 65 percent of the population of the Union.
How the conflict with Hungary could be resolved is currently completely unclear. It is conceivable that the heads of state and government will have to deal with the issue at a summit. It is almost impossible that the conditionality mechanism will be abandoned after all.
In this case, EU countries such as the Netherlands or the European Parliament are likely to block the financial package in protest. At the same time, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the EU Commission and
the European Parliament are urging that the financial package be passed quickly. Time is running out because the budget and the Corona crisis aid should come into effect on January 1st,
according to a video conference between EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen with Merkel and Parliament President David Sassoli.
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