Hungary will resist any effort by the European Commission to tie European Union funding to observance of the rule of law, the justice minister told the Reuters news agency in an interview on Wednesday.
Varga said the definition of “generalised deficiency” regarding the rule of law in the EU’s 2021-27 draft budget was too vague.
She said her goal was to “completely drop” this proposal, pointing out that there was a “package principle” when adopting the draft budget. “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. And this is a red line,” she said.
The minister dismissed a plan by the outgoing European Commission to introduce a regular rule of law review similarly to how it reviews member states’ national budgets, saying it was “completely contrary to the treaties”. Varga added that hopefully the new commission would “build bridges instead of making gaps” between member states.
