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Viktor Orbán (October 2020): "Opportunities for Political Abuse"
Photo: Olivier Hoslet / AFP
The dispute between the EU and the member state Hungary threatens to escalate openly.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has threatened to veto the EU budget in a letter to EU representatives because of the planned rule of law mechanism.
In the letter, Orbán stated that the rule of law mechanism did not correspond to the July agreements on the EU budget.
The AFP news agency reported on Sunday evening, citing an EU source.
The Hungarian news portal mandiner.hu had previously quoted Orbán's letter.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister threatened that if the EU budget were linked to the rule of law mechanism, he would vote against it.
"Even if Hungary feels obliged to cooperate, in the light of developments it cannot deliver the unanimity that is necessary for the package approved in July," mandiner.hu quoted from the letter.
Negotiators from the EU Parliament and the member states recently agreed to introduce the rule of law mechanism in the next Community budget.
The allocation of EU funds is to be linked to compliance with the rule of law in the member states.
According to the report, letters were sent to the highest EU authorities
The agreement is essentially based on a compromise proposal by the German Council Presidency.
According to this, the EU Commission would propose to sanction an EU country, and the member states would have to confirm this decision with a qualified majority - this would be 15 of the 27 member states, which represent 65 percent of the EU population.
Orbán criticized the news portal that the planned sanction mechanism was based on "legally vague definitions such as 'violation of the rule of law'".
This creates "opportunities for political abuse" and violates the "requirement of legal certainty".
The Hungarian government did not want to comment on the report when asked by AFP.
According to the EU source, the letter from Hungary was sent to Council President Charles Michel, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the incumbent German EU Council Presidency and the Portuguese government, which will take over the Council Presidency in January.
Clear words also come from Poland
The governments in Hungary and Poland have already criticized the agreement on the rule of law mechanism in the past few days.
Both countries are vehemently opposed to linking the rule of law to the EU budget.
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Friday that his country would "never" agree to the rule of law mechanism.
For years, Poland and Hungary have been pilloried for violations of the rule of law in the EU.
The agreement on the rule of law mechanism has yet to be approved by the parliamentary plenary and the Council of Member States.
In the Council, a so-called qualified majority is sufficient, so unanimity is not required.
However, the EU's seven-year budget, the details of which are still being negotiated in the European Parliament, must be unanimously approved by the 27 member states.
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