‘Our finances are secure’: Hungary says EU budget veto won’t cost them a penny

The Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff has warned the European Union that its budget proposals are still not acceptable in their current form, and says his country is not losing out financially by blocking its approval.

Gergely Gulyás, Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, told reporters on Thursday that, if changes aren’t made, Hungary will once again veto the EU budget and the recovery fund at next week’s summit. 

Hungary and Poland have been at odds with the EU over the inclusion of rule-of-law criteria in the bloc’s next seven-year budget. The move would make access to European funding conditional on whether governments of member states were seen adhering to the rule of law in their own countries. 

Orban previously slammed the proposals, saying it was “based on arbitrary, politically motivated criteria.” 

Gulyás said the required progress had not been made since Hungary and Poland blocked the proposals in November. 

In this form, we still cannot adopt the budget. Every member state has the right to veto it.

Many prominent politicians, including European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, have blasted Hungary and Poland for delaying a budget that includes a €1.8 trillion Covid-19 recovery package. 

However, Gulyás was confident his country wouldn’t lose a penny by continuing to block the proposed budget. 

Hungary will announce all tenders from January 1. Our financing is secured. It does not matter from the budget point of view when the amount comes in.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels on December 10 and 11 to settle budget disagreements and discuss further coordination on Covid-19, climate change, and security. 

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