European Union's long-term budget blocked by Hungary, Poland over rule-of-law clause

Hungary and Poland have blocked the European Union's seven-year budget over a clause that made access to funding conditional on the basis of adherence to democratic norms. As per BCC reports, the $2.1 trillion budget that also included an $889 billion COVID-19 recovery fund was vetoed by Hungary and Poland on Monday over the rule-of-law clause. 

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The ambassadors, who met via videoconference, passed the rule-of-law mechanism as it only required the support of a qualified majority. But Hungary and Poland decided to vote against the long-term EU budget, which required unanimous support, in order to block the progress. Representatives of the two nations also blocked the passage of the new EU taxes that were meant to support the increase in funding. 

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According to The Guardian, Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesman for the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said that his country couldn't support the plan in its present form because of the rule-of-law clause connected to budget decisions. Orban, whose government is accused of violating democratic norms in the country, had earlier said that he cannot support the plan because of the vaguely defined rule-of-law clause. 

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'Hungary, Poland afraid' 

However, Rasmus Andresen, a Green Member of the European Parliament, has slammed Orban and the Polish government saying that they are afraid because the new mechanism would harm their authoritarian regime. Rasmus Andresen also fears that the blockade would further harm the already deteriorating economy of the region that has been deeply hampered by the ongoing pandemic. 

The introduction of the rule-of-law mechanism was triggered after Poland brought in a series of judicial reforms, which the EU alleges is against the bloc's democratic principles. Hungary has also been accused of undermining the independence of the judiciary in the country by recent reforms. 

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(Image Credit: AP)