BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2019) Hungary's candidate for EU commissioner in charge of neighborhood and enlargement said Wednesday he supported cutting off aid to any partner country that stepped out of line.
In written answers to the European Parliament, Oliver Varhelyi said that "strict conditionality" was key to promoting democratic reforms in the Eastern Partnership countries and beyond.
"While a suspension of EU support is seen as a last resort, it is not ruled out," he wrote to lawmakers, stressing that he also stood for a "more for more" incentive-based approach to those who complied with EU norms.
Hungary's ambassador to Brussels said that as a commissioner he would seek "deeper sectoral cooperation" with the European Union's most advanced partners � Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.
Countries in the EU's eastern and southern flanks are currently "volatile and uncertain," he stressed, but they offer great opportunity and are of interest to the bloc.
The EU neighborhood policy under him will focus on the evolving situation in Syria, upholding Ukraine's territorial integrity, supporting Algeria's transition, reforms in Georgia and ties with Morocco and Tunisia.
Varhelyi will face a three-hour hearing in parliament on Thursday, alongside internal market commissioner-designate Thierry Breton of France and transport commissioner-designate Adina-Ioana Valean of Romania. If confirmed, the entire Commission will be voted on in two weeks' time.
