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Hungary and Poland block EU corona aid

2020-11-16T18:26:38.620Z


The EU wanted to adopt a 1.8 trillion euro financial package for the next seven years. Hungary and Poland have now vetoed it - in protest against a commitment to the rule of law.


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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki 

Photo: Czarek Sokolowski / dpa

Poland and Hungary blocked the decision on the long-term EU budget with a veto.

This also means that the billions in Corona aid are not decided.

The approval of all EU countries is required for the EUR 1.8 trillion financial package to come into force over the next seven years.

This was confirmed by the spokesman for the German EU Council Presidency, Sebastian Fischer, on Twitter.

In the summer, the EU agreed on the historic financial package: 750 billion euros for the Corona development fund and another 1.1 trillion euros for the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027, which, for example, finances grants for agriculture and research programs.

Since then, details have been discussed.

Hungary and Poland had already announced their veto.

You do not agree with the planned rule of law instrument.

The EU Parliament and member states had agreed that EU funds could be reduced in the event of certain violations of the rule of law: for example, when states do not grant the independence of the courts and the media.

Hungary and Poland have been criticized for such violations for years.

The two states had previously been outvoted on this point.

EU in serious political crisis

With the blocked financial package in the middle of the pandemic, the EU is once again in a serious political crisis.

According to diplomats, Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Council President Charles Michel and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will now have to discuss how to proceed.

The dispute will then probably become the subject of a video conference of the heads of state and government planned for Thursday.

For her, it should actually be about better cooperation against the corona pandemic.

If the financial package cannot be launched, the EU will only have an emergency budget from next year.

In addition, the Corona aid could not flow, which is supposed to save countries like Italy and Spain from an economic crash.

Icon: The mirror

mfh / dpa / AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2020-11-16

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