Hungary And Poland In United Front Over EU Budget Row

Budapest, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Nov, 2020 ) :Hungarian and Polish leaders on Thursday maintained their opposition to the EU's proposals for its long-term budget and coronavirus recovery package, insisting the funds must be decoupled from rule-of-law conditions.

Speaking after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: "The proposal on the table is unacceptable for Hungary," dismissing the proposed rule of law protections as instead representing "the rule of the majority".

The stand-off with the two countries has angered other EU member states, with many keenly awaiting payouts from the bloc's stimulus package to help economies shattered by the pandemic amid fears of worse to come.

In a joint statement after Thursday's meeting, Orban and Morawiecki fleshed out an idea previously floated by Orban to decouple EU payments from the row over the rule of law.

"Our common proposal is to facilitate the speedy adoption of the financial package by establishing a two-track process," the statement reads.

"We are seeking solutions which make the necessary financial resources available as soon as possible for all Member States," the statement says.

The second "track" would involve a discussion "in the European Council whether a link between the Rule of Law and the financial interests of the Union should be established".

The proposal says if such a link were to be established, EU governments would have to discuss the modification of the bloc's governing treaties in order to accommodate it.

The statement also pledges that "neither Poland nor Hungary will accept any proposal that is deemed unacceptable by the other".