Justice Minister Judit Varga said Thursday’s agreement concerning the European Union’s next budget and coronavirus recovery fund has in the first place been a victory for common sense.
In an interview with BBC World News, Minister Varga welcomed that the bloc was now focusing on the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impacts rather than on ideological debates, and called the recovery package unprecedented. The EU treaties must not be bypassed, nor should some member states be politically blackmailed through the EU’s budget, pressing them to change their position concerning major issues, the minister said.
The minister rejected accusations that the Hungarian government takes EU money but rejects the bloc’s democratic norms. It is in all members’ interest that community funds should be spent legitimately, especially because Hungarian taxpayers, too, contribute to the European budget, she insisted. According to Minister Varga, the Hungarian government has obtained guarantees of fair procedures and legal certainty.
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