European recovery plan rears its ugly head. Hungary, Poland vetoed the EU’s historic 1.82 trillion euro budget and recovery plan.
The European Commission, the European Parliament and the 27 member states had previously gone through a long period of tug-of-war to reach agreement on the largest fiscal package in the EU’s history, which was designed to mitigate the impact of the epidemic.
The veto may prevent the timely distribution of much-needed relief funds.
Hungary and Poland vetoed the draft budget mainly because the condition for access to funds was “respect for the rule of law”. According to this clause, the mechanism would allow the EU to cut off funding to a country if it violates the law in certain circumstances related to the budget.
Hungary and Poland called the mechanism, which ties aid funds to the “rule of law,” “blackmail. Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said that the provision was political slavery for Poland.
Poland and Hungary had already voted against the rule of law clause. However, they were unable to prevent the article from being adopted, as it requires only a majority of member states to pass.
However, Poland and Hungary have exercised their vetoes in the current vote on the draft budget. If an EU member state had vetoed it, the EU budget would not have been adopted.
The two vetoes had serious consequences. As a result of the failure to pass the budget, the EU’s New Canopy Assistance Fund may not be launched as planned in January. Countries that have been severely affected by the epidemic, such as Italy, Spain, Greece, and France, would then be significantly affected.
But the rejection does not mean that the draft EU budget has no room to maneuver. The day after the EU budget vote was blocked, the EU 27 European Affairs Ministers met to discuss and find a solution. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are said to be continuing negotiations with the leaders of Poland and Hungary to find a solution.
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