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The EU’s top forum decided over the summer that it would tie any future fund disbursement to respecting the democratic standards incorporated in the EU’s founding treaty, such as the freedom of courts, the media and education, all of which have come under attack by Orban in recent years.
Hungary will veto the European Union’s 2021-2027 budget and post-COVID recovery fund unless its fellow member states revise a clause to tie disbursement of EU funds to rule of law conditions, the government spokesman told Reuters on Monday.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist government has been at odds with European partners for years over a perceived erosion of democratic standards, which has sidelined Orban and his Polish allies in the bloc.
The EU’s top forum decided over the summer that it would tie any future fund disbursement to respecting the democratic standards incorporated in the EU’s founding treaty, such as the freedom of courts, the media and education, all of which have come under attack by Orban in recent years.
Orban’s Fidesz party has been suspended by the European People’s Party, the bloc’s conservative umbrella group for right-wing politicians, and the European Parliament has started a procedure to suspend Hungary’s voting rights in the bloc in response to its democratic shortcomings.
The Hungarian leader, who is building a self-styled “illiberal democracy”, has rejected those accusations and accused Brussels of double standards of allowing other countries to do things Hungary is punished for.
Portfolio reported that the German EU presidency will ask member states later on Monday to express their political stance on the funding conditionality, where the Hungarian government would veto both the EU budget and the post-COVID recovery fund.
REUTERS
