Polish government denied the agreement on the European Union budget

A spokesman for the Polish government today denied reports that Poland and Hungary had already reached a preliminary agreement with the German presidency of the European Union on a seven year budget of the twenty-seven. Both countries are threatening to veto due to the conditionality of drawing European Union money on the rule of law.

Government spokesman Piotr said, budget negotiations are still ongoing. Poland and Hungary have developed a common framework for negotiations. No agreement has yet been reached within the European Union. If (our) points are adopted, there is a chance of an agreement at this summit. The condition for a good end (EU summit) is to take into account our requirements.

The preliminary agreement was announced today by the Reuters agency, referring to an unnamed high ranking representative of the Polish government. The approval of the Netherlands and other skeptical states with the said agreement is currently awaited. The Netherlands, on the other hand, threatened to veto the condition that the condition for drawing European Union money would be removed from the agreement.

According to the Polish news television station TVN 24, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin spoke about the agreement between Warsaw, Budapest and Berlin.

Minister said, we are literally an inch from a good compromise. It is possible to reach a solution that will guarantee Poland's sovereignty and a common Europe respect for the rights of our state and the possibility of using hundreds of billions of zlotys from European Union funds. We hope that this plan will be accepted by all EU leaders.

He hopes that an acceptable compromise will be reached at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. According to him, Poland and Hungary, together with the German presidency are submitting a good proposal that removes the reasons for using the veto.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with his counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki and coalition party leaders Jaroslaw Kaczyński, Zbigniew Ziobr and Jaroslaw Gowin in Warsaw on Tuesday. After the meeting, Morawiecki said that no scenario could be ruled out and that another European Union summit or long months of negotiations might be needed because of the next budget. According to him, Warsaw and Budapest are determined to defend their national interests.

Hungary and Poland threaten to block the approval of an unprecedented package of money in the form of a new seven-year budget and a covid-19 crisis relief fund. Other countries, on the other hand, warn that if both countries do not reconsider their views, an emergency fund will be created without them.

Budapest and Warsaw block the approval of the budget and the associated fund with a total volume of over 1.8 trillion euros (approximately 48 trillion crowns) due to the condition that money from the budget for 2021-2027 and the emergency crisis fund should be available only to those states whose judicial authorities will ensure the independent investigation and prosecution of possible fraud. However, according to both countries, with which the European Union institutions have been conducting proceedings for several years precisely because of fears of restricting the independence of the judiciary or the media, such conditionality is not supported by the European Union treaties.