Hungary and Poland harden stance in EU budget stand-off. [ Ссылка ] #Hungary #Orban #EU #Commissioner #Poland #VETO European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen has written a letter to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in which she argues that the rule-of-law mechanism in the EU budget is as agreed at July's summit, an EU source has told PAP.
"The letter clarifies why we believe that the proposition is in line with the conclusions of the European Council from July," a source told PAP on condition of anonymity. Von der Leyen also wrote that in the case of reservations about the conditionality mechanism, the matter can be taken to the European Court of Justice.
Von der Leyen's letter is a response to a letter that Morawiecki sent in mid-November to EU leaders including the EC president. He said in it that Poland cannot accept the current version of the rule-of-law mechanism as it leads to the primacy of political and arbitrary criteria over substantive evaluation.
A source in Polish diplomacy confirmed to PAP that such a letter had been received but did not wish to disclose its contents.
The head of the European Commission wrote a letter to Morawiecki. It is about the mechanism of linking the EU budget with the rule of law
According to the Polish Press Agency, the letter from the President of the European Commission, which was sent this week, is a response to the letter of the Polish premierewhich he addressed to EU leaders. Mateusz Morawiecki In it, he stressed that Poland agrees to provisions that will protect the Union’s financial interests, for example against fraud, but cannot agree to imprecise rule of law criteria that may pave the way for discriminatory practices against any of the states. The head of Polish government He pointed out that the state of legal uncertainty could mean that the ambitious budgetary agreement of July could in practice fail. Earlier, a similar letter, although, as EU officials say, was more categorical in tone, was sent by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Ursula von der Leyen’s letter explains why EU politicians believe that the mechanism of linking the EU budget to the rule of law is in line with the July European Council conclusions. It also indicated that in the event of objections to the conditionality mechanism, decisions may be appealed against to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Moreover, the President of the European Commission emphasizes that conditionality is directly related to sound financial management and not to general violations of the rule of law. These are only infringements that may affect the management of the EU’s finances as well as the EU’s financial interests.
Common position of Poland and Hungary
On Thursday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met in Budapest with the head of the Hungarian government, Viktor Orban. During the talks, the politicians signed a joint declaration in which they agreed on a negotiation strategy for the EU budget. – Hungary will not accept proposals unacceptable to Poland, we will fight together – said Viktor Orban.
– This mechanism is an arbitrarily interpreted regulation on the so-called rule of law. The regulation, which is supposed to refer to the budget, but under this pretext, refers to completely different matters. This is extremely dangerous for the cohesion of the whole of Europe, said Prime Minister Morawiecki, assessing the proposed mechanism linking the payment of European funds with the rule of law as definitely bad. The head of the Polish government added that Poland and Hungary would defend the sovereignty, letter and spirit of the treaties. The joint negotiation strategy of both countries on the European Union budget assumes the possibility of using veto, and Prime Minister Morawiecki emphasized that such action should serve the good of all the states of the community. According to him, in this way it is possible to defend the cohesion of the European Union, as well as the sovereignty of the countries that make up the Europe of homelands, and the letter and spirit of the EU treaties.
Morawiecki emphasized that consent to link finances with the rule of law may irretrievably change the face of the European Union, and the conditionality of the budget is unacceptable. – Conditionality formulated in this way is a stick for every country. Today for this country, tomorrow it may be for someone else, and maybe someone in Brussels will be reminded that 10 percent of the budget deficit is something unacceptable – explained the head of the Polish government. He added that during talks with Viktor Orban it was established that the use of veto in budget negotiations is the “baseline scenario”. Both countries will not agree that the European Commission’s rule of law regulation takes precedence over the treaties.
[ Ссылка ] #eudebates
