GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2020) ENOA, Italy, November 19 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko - Conditionality of the access to the European funds is an erroneous approach that highlights the need for institutional changes within the EU, Matteo Luigi Bianchi, vice president of the Commission for the EU policies of the Italian chamber of deputies, told Sputnik.
On Monday, Poland and Hungary vetoed the seven-year EU budget, as well as the 750 billion euro ($889 billion) recovery package, in opposition to the budget law clause that ties the availability of the money to the rule of law and respect for democratic standards in recipient countries. Both countries are under the formal EU process over concerns for judicial independence there.
"Conditionality of the provision of funds is something abnormal and undemocratic. Arguing that countries like Poland and Hungary are authoritarian is deeply false and it only hides the desire to uniform all the countries of the European Union with a certain ideological dynamics that is based mainly on the concepts of globalization, multiculturalism and LGBT ideology," Bianchi said.
The budget and the recovery package require the unanimous support of the EU member states.
"The European Union must be an institution in which all European citizens are recognized, even those with conservative values. The big mistake that is being made is that institutions continue to be compromised and predefined by the needs of the progressive left," he added.
According to Bianchi, the European Union should use this moment to review and update its treaties, giving more powers to the regions and territories.
"It would not be foolish to revise the role of the [European] Council, giving more powers to the Committee of the Regions," he said.
The issue of the veto by Hungary and Poland is now expected to be addressed by EU leaders at a video conference on Thursday. A group of countries within the European Union, such as Austria and the Netherlands, see the linkage of the access to the funds with the respect for the rule of law as absolutely necessary.
