Prime Minister Viktor Orbán foresees a good chance of victory for Hungary and Poland in the ongoing debate about the EU budget and on linking funding to "rule-of-law conditions", if "things are developing in the right direction" in the next few days.
PM Orbán held talks in Warsaw with Mateusz Morawiecki, his Polish counterpart, on Tuesday evening. In his interview with commercial news broadcaster Polsat News, PM Orbán said that the positions of Hungary and Poland, the EU’s current German presidency and the governments of several other member states were now closer to each other than a couple of weeks or even days ago.
According to MTI, PM Orbán said issues concerning the rule of law and financial issues must be addressed separately. He argued that a situation in which financial sanctions could be applied against a member state for “non-compliance” with the European policy on gender or migration related issues “would not be desirable”.
PM Orbán said Hungary and Poland both regard keeping to the EU’s basic treaty and its provisions highly important, as they also regard safeguarding their national interests and EU funding they are entitled to equally important. He said the two countries were together strong enough to defend their financial interests. Maintaining a conflict situation and a veto over the budget is not good for Europe, nor is it in the interest of either Hungary or Poland, this is why an agreement would be needed as soon as possible, which would benefit all sides, PM Orbán said.
Photo credit: Facebook/Orbán Viktor