Hungary, Poland block 2021-2027 EU budget, recovery package

Hungary and Poland blocked on Monday the adoption of the 2021-2027 budget and recovery fund by European Union governments because the budget law included a clause that makes access to money conditional on respecting the rule of law.

Ambassadors of EU governments at a meeting in Brussels were to endorse a compromise reached on the 1.8 trillion packages with the European Parliament, but could not do that because of the veto from Warsaw and Budapest.

The German EU presidency said ambassadors did vote through the link between EU money and the respect for the rule of law because this vote required only a qualified majority and the opposition of Warsaw and Budapest could not stop it.

But when it came to voting on the 1.1 trillion euro budget itself and the 750 billion euro recovery package, which requires unanimous support, “two EU member states expressed reservations” the presidency said.

The Polish and Hungarian veto will now be discussed at a meeting of EU European affairs ministers on Tuesday and then at a video-conference of EU leaders on Thursday. But finding a solution might take longer than that, officials said.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said it was an absolute necessity to link the distribution of European funds to rule of law standards in member states, especially when the sums to be handed out were so vast.

The nationalist governments in Budapest and Warsaw are against linking EU money and respect for the rule of law because they are under a formal EU process investigating them for undermining the independence of courts, media and non-governmental organizations.

If the link, introduced by EU leaders in July and strengthened by the European Parliament, remains, both countries risk losing access to tens of billions of euros in EU funds.

(c) Reuters

News.Az 


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