Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced today (27 Nov 2020) that the joint decision of Poland and Hungary concerning EU budget is tough as concrete and the agreement is possible but only if economic issues are not connected with political ones.
‘Binding political disagreements with economic issues is not a legal issue. This is the decision of a few union states and the European Parliament. Our statement, I mean Polish and Hungarian, is tough as concrete and this is only a political will. The second might be changed, but our not. If it is going to happen, there will be an agreement’ – said Orban in Radio Kossuth.
He also added that he does not want to compromise in this situation. ‘It is not about the compromise; it is about finding a solution. Compromise often is not a solution; it is a wrong decision’ – he assessed.
He emphasised that there is a possibility to find a solution, but the approach of Poland and Hungary is clear and without those two countries the budget cannot be created.
Hungarian Prime Minister also warned that ‘if the German presidency and European Parliament stick to bounding economic issues concerning tackling crises with political issues, it would be very irresponsible and they would destroy some European countries’.
Joint statement
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made a joint declaration on Thursday (26 Nov 2020). In this declaration, both Prime Ministers maintained the statement concerning the EU budget for a further seven years. ‘Our statement is constant since the beginning of the negotiations concerning the budget presented in 2018’ – was written in the statement.
Both governments aim to ‘prevent from a mechanism which would not strengthen but undermine the Rule of Law within the Union by degrading it to a political instrument. The proposed conditionality circumvents the Treaty, applies vague definitions and ambiguous terms without clear criteria on which sanctions can be based and contains no meaningful procedural guarantees’.
‘We decided to align our positions on these issues. Neither Poland nor Hungary will accept any proposal that is deemed by the other’ – was added.