European Union (EU) leaders’ virtual meeting regarding the bloc’s 1.8 trillion-euro COVID-19 budget ended in a deadlock on Thursday evening, with no resolution. However, EU officials underscored the importance of securing an agreement and agreed that the dispute should be parked and handed over to experts to find a way forward.
On Monday, Hungary and Poland vetoed the 2021-2027 €1.8 trillion budget proposal, which is aimed at kickstarting the bloc’s post-pandemic recovery. While the broader deal was agreed to by all the members of the bloc in July, the details were still being negotiated. Moreover, the plan requires unanimous approval by all 27 members of the bloc.
Warsaw and Budapest rejected the plan over the bloc’s decision to adopt a mechanism that requires member states to adhere to the European standard of democratic principles—which includes rule of law, human rights, and independence of the judiciary—to secure access to its long-term budget. Hungary has criticized the EU for engaging in blackmail by tying funds to rule of law, arguing that it was a “political and ideological weapon” designed to coerce and punish countries that reject immigration.
Meanwhile, Poland has accused Brussels of spreading propaganda, comparing the bloc to Poland’s former Communist regime and denouncing and railing against “arbitrary decisions” by the “European oligarchy”. Though Slovenia has suggested—and it is the only one—that the EU bow down to the countries’ demands, the bloc has refused to bend and rejected any concessions. Additionally, several EU nations, including the Netherlands and France, have said that the agreed compromise on the rule of law was “the bare minimum” and that the values of the bloc were at stake.
With neither side ready to give in, the impasse is delaying €750 billion in crucial relief assistance at a time when the continent is witnessing a second wave of COVID-19 infections, with many countries going into partial lockdowns, hurting their economies. Poland and Hungary are in fact the states that are most reliant on EU funds, and the standoff has become tense enough that six major Hungarian opposition parties issued a joint statement on Wednesday night stressing that PM Viktor Orbán was not acting in the country’s national interest.
“Hungarian citizens and their enterprises are in desperate need of the EU’s recovery fund,” the parties wrote. “We, therefore, call upon the institutions of the European Union and the governments of Member States to find a solution in order to stop the Orbán government’s selfishness from putting obstacles before the remedies for the European and Hungarian economic crisis and to help Hungarian citizens, who now fear to lose their existential stability, and their enterprises access the funding provided by EU to Hungary.”
Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency has said that it remains hopeful about resolving this challenge. Meanwhile, some French officials have said that EU leaders could push ahead with a deal without Poland and Hungary if a compromise cannot be reached. That would mean Poland and Hungary would lose access to tens of billions of euros in EU funds.
EU Stuck in Crisis as Hungary and Poland Refuse to Back Down From Budget Veto
The impasse is delaying €750 billion in crucial coronavirus relief assistance at a time when the continent is witnessing a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
November 20, 2020
(From L-R) Prime Ministers Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland and Viktor Orbán of Hungary. SOURCE: POLITICO