Hungary, Poland block EU budget, virus recovery money

16 November 2020, 5:39 pm

Edit

Hungary and Poland block approval of the EU’s long-term budget and coronavirus rescue — a 1.8 trillion euro package — and plunge the bloc into political crisis.

Warsaw and Budapest oppose tying EU funding to respect for the rule of law and their envoys vetoed any decision to proceed, EU diplomats at the Brussels meeting say.

“Hungary has vetoed the budget,” Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban says, arguing that the package must reflect a deal reached in July.

“We cannot support the plan in its present form to tie rule of law criteria to budget decisions,” he said.

Poland and Hungary remain implacably opposed to tying their future funding to Brussels’ judgment on whether their spending is in line with EU law.

— AFP