EU finance ministers are at odds with each other in Brussels with and over Hungary. This was reported by insiders to the ANP news agency. Due to all the disagreement, no decision has yet been made on Hungary’s coronavirus recovery plan and on freezing EU regional subsidies. Hungary, for its part, refuses to lift its vetoes on next year’s billions in aid to Ukraine and on the introduction of a minimum profit tax of 15 percent.
The President of the Council of Ministers, the Czech Zbyněk Stanjura, wanted to treat all four files as a single package, but it quickly became clear that this was not an impossible issue. EU leaders could consider Hungary’s “headache dossier” in two weeks’ time.
Also listen | “Brussels is waiting with a billion-dollar subsidy for Hungary”
To block
Last month, the European Commission approved the recovery plan for the Hungarian krone after months of negotiations with the Hungarian government. But the commission asks that the country first complete a long list of measures to restore the rule of law before Brussels pays one euro of the 5.8 billion available. In addition, the Commission is proposing to freeze €7.5 billion in grants from EU funds for poor regions for Hungary until concrete steps are taken to fight corruption in the country.
Tempers are particularly heated over the freezing of 65% of the so-called cohesion funds for Hungary. Big member states like France, Germany and Italy want the committee to examine what legal steps Budapest has taken since Nov. 19, the latest deadline the committee had imposed on Hungary.
However, the country has since taken expedited measures that could lower the sentence. This decision must be taken by 19 December, because in that case this procedure will expire, under which for the first time a rule of law test is linked to expenditure from the EU budget.
Ministers also instructed the commission to find a way out of the €18 billion in aid planned for Ukraine. Hungary refuses to guarantee EU support.
Source: BNR
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