17 Jul Blackmailing EU over funds could backfire for Hungary

Dániel Bartha, director of CEID authored an opinion piece in Balkan Insight on the Hungarian manouvres ahead of this weekend’s EU summit on the MFF and the recovery funds.

Prime Minister Orban has thrown the EU another hardball by rejecting any conditionality being attached to recovery funds – apparently counting on Brussels and Berlin yielding to pressure.

“If the Hungarian Prime Minster wins this battle, it will certainly prove that economic interests have become more of a priority than European core values.

But Orban’s victory is not a done deal. The current mandate from the Hungarian parliament is more of starting bet in the negotiations. If the EU Council waters down the rule-of-law conditionality, if Hungary receives slightly more money from the Recovery Fund, or at least some flexibility about spending it, Orban may not need to use his veto.”

The full article can be read on Balkan Insight’s website.

(07/17/2020)