Reuters: “Hungary’s position on a veto of the European Union’s budget and recovery fund is ‘rock-solid’, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, adding he did not want to seek a compromise on the rule of law issue. Orban spoke on state radio a day after Hungary and Poland said the EU could not attach rule-of-law conditions to funds unless the bloc changed its founding treaty, digging in their heels after vetoing the EU budget and a coronavirus recovery fund earlier this month.”
“The EU is investigating the nationalist governments of the two Central European countries for undermining the independence of their judiciaries and media and had sought to attach conditions to the disbursement of EU cash. Poland and Hungary responded by blocking 1.8 trillion euros worth of EU funds, including hundreds of billions due to be disbursed soon to help pull the bloc out of a double-dip recession caused by a second wave of COVID-19.”