During a speech at the Băile Tușnad Summer University in Romania on Saturday 26 July, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned that he would veto the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034 if the Commission did not release frozen funds for Hungary.
The payment of nearly €20 billion to Hungary has been suspended by the EU since the end of 2022 for failure to respect the rule of law and government interference in university administration.
Viktor Orbán pointed out that “unanimity is required to approve the new seven-year European budget”. In a post on the social network X, the Hungarian Prime Minister said that the EU’s long-term draft budget plan was “based on the logic of war”.
He summed up the European Commission’s proposal on 16 July for a 2028-2034 MFF worth almost €2,000 billion (see EUROPE 13682/1) as “billions for Ukraine, crumbs for farmers and development”.
The Commission’s desire to extend conditionality linked to respect for the rule of law to the entire budget is unlikely to please the Hungarian Prime Minister either, who has repeatedly criticised the Commission for using the conditionality mechanism as a tool for political pressure (see EUROPE 13548/22).
In addition to the suspension of payments under Next Generation EU, the Commission intends, from the outset, to make payments subject to respect for the rule of law. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)