Hungary and Poland are objecting the EU’s 750 billion euro rescue fund, which plans to tackle the block’s post-COVID-19 crisis. Irish PM Micheál Martin says he has “great concern” over their attitude.
Hungary and Poland blackmail the EU over a rule-of-law clause that does not suit them. European Union Slovenia has entered the fray.
Hungary and Poland say they will oppose a mechanism that links a requirement to uphold the EU rule of law in member states with the trillion-dollar coronavirus recovery package. Both countries are at odds with Brussels.
Prime ministers Hungary Viktor Orbán and PM Poland Mateusz Morawiecki met in Budapest to discuss ways of persuading EU leaders to abandon the plan.
Hungary and Poland vowed Thursday to uphold their veto of the European Union’s next budget, which includes its massive pandemic relief fund.
The countries say a mechanism tying payment of the funds to rule of law principles risks derailing the bloc.
The EU had proposed to link its €1.8 trillion ($2.1 trillion) budget for 2021-2027 and coronavirus recovery package to a respect of the rule of law by its 27 members. This would allow funds to be denied to members that violated democratic norms.
