Portugal will defend at Tuesday’s meeting of finance ministers of the European Union (EU) the importance of an understanding around the Hungarian filesalso so that Europe “gets ahead”, the Minister of Finance said this Monday in Brussels.
At the entrance to a meeting of finance ministers of the euro zone (Eurogroup), Fernando Medina announced the Ecofin Council this Tuesday, in which the 27 will debate the recent proposal of the European Commission to freeze cohesion funds for Hungary for alleged violations of the rule of law, as well as the approval of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and other files that Budapest has blocked for not having access to the funds, matters that the minister considers of the utmost importance.
Referring to what he classified as a “Key point of tomorrow’s Ecofin meeting(Tuesday), to the discussions around “a set of files on Hungary”, Medina added that what he hopes, “and that Portugal seeks to contribute to the discussion, is a message of the importance of an understanding, of reaching a understanding ”, important not only for Budapest but for the entire bloc.
The minister pleads for “an understanding that allows, on the one hand, to unblock and clarify the situation of support for Hungary, but also allows, from that point of view, to overcome the vetoes that exist in relation to two files, what is the EU support for Ukraine and the minimum taxation of companieshe said, referring to the 18 billion-euro package of macro-financial aid to Kiev by 2023, and the minimum 15% tax on the profits of the largest companies, which Hungary has blocked in light of its long-standing ‘arm of iron’. with Brussels for the rule of law.
“We are going to appeal, and we are going to work these two days, to facilitate an understanding that can unlock the files, so that these very important matters can move forward,” reinforced the Minister of Finance.
Fernando Medina wished for “the ability to be open and understanding, to assess not only the progress that Hungary has made, its commitment to comply with the agenda that was set”, but “that this also allows progress in the solution regarding the financing of European funds and also unblocking what have been the obstacles that Hungary has put in relation to a set of files”.
According to the minister, he is one of the oldest “it is important for the Union to make progress on these fronts????????
EU finance ministers will discuss the European Commission’s recent formal recommendation to suspend the payment of 7.5 billion euros in cohesion funds to Hungary on Tuesday, but the final decision should not be taken until next week.
Less than a week after the unprecedented decision of the community executive to propose to the Council the suspension of the payment of 65% of the commitments of three operational programs in the field of cohesion policy, for a value of 7,500 million eurosunder the conditionality mechanism, for alleged breaches of the rule of law, this issue will dominate the Ecofin Council meeting.
However, several European sources point out that a decision is unlikely to be reached in this Council, some Member States advocating that the Commission update the assessment of the measures adopted in the meantime by Budapest, despite the fact that the opinion of the community executive dates from last month of november. 30, based on information provided by the Hungarian authorities up to November 19, and today the Commission has reiterated that EU countries have “all the elements they need” to give their opinion.
However, Member States have until December 19 to adopt a final decision – by qualified majority -, a new ministerial meeting is likely next weekbefore a European Council that will bring together the Heads of State and Government of the European Union on December 15 and 16 in Brussels.
At the end of November, the European Commission gave the green light to Hungary’s €5.8bn Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), but proposed suspending €7.5bn in cohesion policy funds, as, according to Brussels, “despite the measures takenthere is still a continuing risk to the EU budget, given that the corrective measures pending compliance are of a structural nature”.
This was the first time that the conditionality regulation was applied, the measure is linked to irregularities in Hungary, in matters such as public procurement, omission of investigations and legal actions in cases related to European funds and also deficiencies in the fight against corruption
Adopted in 2021, the conditionality mechanism provides for sanctions in case of violation of the rule of law in a given Member State and in situations affecting the financial interests of the EU.
At the same time, the institution gave the green light to the Hungarian PRR, the approval of which had been postponed months after “guaranteed the inclusion of essential milestones on judicial independence and the protection of the EU budget”.
However, to access PRR funds, Budapest relies on the “full and effective implementation of necessary milestones“, which involves 17 corrective measures, along with other rule of law reforms related to judicial independence, for a total of 27 major milestones.
Brussels maintains a long dispute with the Hungarian government of Viktor Órban, accused of violating the rule of law, that is, the independence of the judicial system and the media and of violating the rights of minorities and of not fighting corruption . In ‘response’, Budapest has blocked several files that require unanimity, such as aid to Ukraine and the taxation of multinationals.
Source: Observadora
