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Important meeting starts soon and may have a crucial effect on forint, Hungarian economy
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Today at 6 pm, the meeting of the EU ambassadors will start in Brussels, which may mark another important milestone in the Hungary versus Brussels saga, politico.eu believes. Hungary’s decisions may affect the prospects of the Hungarian economy and the forint since they may lift the EU billions blocked due to concerns over corruption and rule-of-law problems.
Politico.eu wrote today that Budapest would “decide today whether to lift its veto on a EUR 18 billion aid package for Ukraine and a minimum global corporate tax rate in exchange for EU countries’ approval of its economic recovery plan.” All three issues will be on the agenda of a meeting of EU ambassadors starting today at 6 pm.
Meanwhile, forint started to plunge after last week’s news that there would be no EU-Hungary agreement over the EU funds. Hungary may receive 5.8 billion euros of the COVID recovery funds, but part or all of the development fund (EUR 7.5 billion) may remain blocked for years. We wrote about that issue, and a confidential European Commission letter leaked in THIS article. The European Council must decide on that issue by 19 December.
Read alsoImportant meeting starts soon and may have a crucial effect on forint, Hungarian economy
Minister: ‘The goal is to preserve European unity’
The recent controversy in the European Union has shown that “if debates are based on feelings towards a country, rather than facts, that will dismantle the European Union,” the prime minister’s chief of staff said on Monday. Speaking on The Bold Truth about Hungary, a podcast of state secretary Zoltán Kovács, Gergely Gulyás said that the European Commission had launched its conditionality procedure against Hungary after the general elections there, “making political motivations all the more likely.”
Hungary, “trying to handle the situation on legal terms”, specified 17 requirements with the European Commission and subsequently fulfilled them, Gulyás said. A political debate ensued, which the EC could not stay away from, he said. “If issues like this are judged not by the facts but by whether a member state’s government is likeable, or whether they are close to the mainstream or not, that will sooner or later dismantle the EU,” Gulyás exclaimed. The EU’s primary interest should be to preserve the unity needed for decision-making, he added.