EU Finance Ministers will exchange views in Brussels on Tuesday 6 December on the proposal to suspend €7.5 billion in EU cohesion funds for Hungary on the grounds that the country does not respect the principles of the Rule of law. They will also discuss Hungary’s €5.8 billion post-Covid-19 recovery plan.
But no decision should be taken on these two issues (see EUROPE 13074/1). This was the outcome of discussions held on Thursday 1 December by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper).
Several Member States have requested that the European Commission update its assessment to include recent measures taken by the ‘Orbán’ government to address failures in the Rule of law. The analysis presented on Wednesday 30 November by the Commission stops at 19 November.
An extraordinary meeting of the Ecofin Council by Monday 19 December cannot be ruled out, especially as two other urgent dossiers - minimum taxation of multinationals and macrofinancial assistance to Ukraine in 2023 - could be decided simultaneously in the event of a positive outcome on the ‘Rule of law’ Regulation procedure and the Hungarian recovery plan. The issue may even come up at the EU summit in mid-December.
When contacted, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, whose preference was to close the file by Tuesday 6 December, did not confirm this information. It can change the agenda of the Ecofin Council at any time.
The EU Council’s Budget Committee will have a discussion on Friday 2 December on the Commission’s communication to the EU Council on the corrective measures notified by Hungary under the conditionality Regulation. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)