The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union will only decide after the EU Finance Ministers’ breakfast on Tuesday 6 December whether or not to submit to a vote of the Member States at the Ecofin Council the following four politically related dossiers: - the protection of the EU’s financial interests in Hungary; - the Commission’s recovery plan; - the minimum taxation of multinationals (pillar II OECD agreement); - the €18 billion macrofinancial assistance to Ukraine for 2023.
The Czech Presidency of the Council would like to reach a favourable outcome on these four dossiers as early as Tuesday, as they remain on the ministerial agenda. However, the likelihood of this being the case was low on Monday 5 December, following a meeting of Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper).
However, the Czech authorities do not rule out the possibility of taking into account new elements to refine the assessment of the Hungarian measures. The Hungarian parliament will meet on Tuesday and adopt new reforms the following day to comply with the Commission’s requests.
It is “unlikely” that a decision will be taken on Tuesday, a diplomatic source said, expecting an extraordinary Ecofin Council meeting by Monday 19 December, the deadline for a decision under the ‘rule of law’ procedure (see EUROPE 13075/20).
With the Commission’s assessment of Hungary’s measures to strengthen the fight against corruption and to increase the independence of the judiciary (see EUROPE 13074/1) delivered at the end of November, Member States have had little time to take ownership of the documents and develop their own analysis. Some, like Germany, France and Italy, asked the Commission last Thursday to update its analysis with the measures Hungary adopted after 19 November.
On Monday, on his arrival at the Eurogroup, the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, retorted that the Commission had not received a formal request from the EU Council. He said the Czech Presidency was working to reach an agreement on Tuesday and, if this was not possible, “maybe there will be a second (ministerial) meeting in a week’s time”, he suggested.
“We believe that the EU Council has all the necessary elements to decide”, said Commission spokesman Eric Mamer.
For the French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, “we still need some time to study the proposals” from the Commission and, on this basis, “we will take a decision in the coming days”. His German counterpart, Christian Lindner, agrees, saying that “it is too early to say” whether EU funds should be suspended for Hungary.
Dutch Minister Sigrid Kaag said that her country will abstain on the adoption of the Hungarian recovery plan and supports the Commission’s approach to the ‘rule of law’ regulation procedure. Promising an “intense” debate in the Ecofin Council, the Spanish minister, Nadia Calviño, also supported the Commission’s work on respect for the rule of law in the EU, hoping that it will be possible “in the next few days” to resolve the outstanding issues in the case of Hungary.
For its part, the European Parliament is keeping up the pressure. On Sunday, the presidents of the pro-European political groups - EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA, The Left - welcomed the Commission’s assessment in a letter to EU finance ministers on Sunday 4 December. “It is now up to the EU Council to stand up for European values and ensure that the Commission’s proposal is adopted. And this is not just about Hungary. It is about the EU’s ability to uphold basic democratic standards and the rule of law in all Member states and beyond. It is also about protecting taxpayers’ money from frauds”, they wrote.
See the letter from the European Parliament political groups: https://aeur.eu/f/4h8 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Lionel Changeur)