Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has expressed her confidence on Friday that the ongoing rule of law row with Poland and Hungary will be resolved in a positive manner
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2020) Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has expressed her confidence on Friday that the ongoing rule of law row with Poland and Hungary will be resolved in a positive manner.
Poland and Hungary's permanent representatives to the European Union on Monday refused to give their support to the bloc's proposed 1.8 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) seven-year budget and COVID-19 recovery plan. The rejection came amid an ongoing spat over the bloc's desire to implement the rule of law mechanism, which proposes to make access to EU funds conditional on member states adopting a series of shared values and principles.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think tank, von der Leyen said that she was confident a solution could be reached, but warned that respect of the rule of law was one of the bloc's founding principles.
"I'm confident that in the very end, we will find a positive solution. It has to be very clear that the rule of law is respected in the European Union and as I said, this is a founding principle," the European Commission president said.
According to von der Leyen, negotiations on the matter are currently ongoing, and the bloc is working diligently to address any concerns Warsaw and Budapest may have.
Hungary and Poland are believed to be the two main targets of the rule of law mechanism, as officials in Brussels have expressed their concern over the independence of judges in the two countries.
Speaking on Wednesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that his country rejected the budget plans because the European Union was attempting to make the support of immigration a fundamental part of the mechanism.
