Gergely Gulyás said Hungary had conducted “intense negotiations” with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the EU’s German presidency in the debate on the European Union’s multiannual budget and its coronavirus recovery package.
According to MTI, the minister said the talks were successful, resulting in an agreement that was acceptable to Germany while fulfilling all Hungarian and Polish demands. The Hungarian government “has a good chance of victory” at the European Union summit starting on Thursday, where the heads of state and government may unanimously approve a document which includes conditions set out by Poland and Hungary, he said.
Gulyás said the Hungarian government’s aim had been clear throughout the talks: the EU support must not be made conditional on rule-of-law criteria. He added that now was not the time to resolve ongoing debates over migration, and these disputes must not be linked to the budget. He said Hungary had made clear that it cannot be “blackmailed on these issues”. The government demanded political and legal guarantees to ensure that Hungarian voters’ decisions are not disregarded, he added.
Referring to the EU’s migration action plan, Gulyás said Hungary would reject, at all costs, the EU hosting 34 million migrants. Gulyás said that as long as the debate was ongoing, the government would prevent the budget and the recovery fund from being used to “back Hungary and Poland into a corner”. Hungary is committed to using EU funding transparently and to fighting corruption, he said. At the same time, Brussels must not be allowed to strip governments of their sovereign competencies, he said. The draft agreement contains all requests made by Hungary and Poland, and guarantees that those countries cannot be blackmailed on the issues of migration or gender policy, he said.
Photo credit: Facebook