Video: PM Orbán On Future Of Europe
- 24 Feb 2020 9:50 AM
- Hungary Matters
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the EU summit also focussed on the future of Europe.
“The debates centred on how ambitious a Europe we are striving for. If we want to maintain Europe as it is, we need an internal market based on the pillars of farm subsidies and cohesion funds,” he said. Orbán said that the figures should be brought in line with the long-term vision of the European Union.
The more ambitious goals cannot be financed from the community funds that were available under the 2014-2020 financial framework. The new challenges the EU is going to face will require further funds, he said.
In reply to a question, Orbán said that the proposal for tying community funds to the rule of law in recipient countries had not been raised during the summit. This issue might emerge in the final phase of negotiations, he said.
Viktor Orbán has called it "unacceptable" that four EU members rejected EC President Charles Michel's proposal for contributing 1.074% of their gross national income to the EU budget for 2021-27, and insisted that their contribution cannot top 1% of their economic output.
“If we wish to see an ambitious Europe, we need an ambitious budget,” Orbán said during an EU summit in Brussels on Friday. He told reporters that the Friends of Cohesion group of countries suggest that the calculations should be based on the European Parliament’s proposal for each member state contributing 1.3% of their GNI to the EU budget.
“If Europe really wants to make progress in the fields of border defence, digitalisation, industrial policy, agriculture, cohesion and the infrastructure, it cannot get stuck at 1%. All countries should raise their contribution to 1.3%,” he said.
Orbán said he saw no hope for a compromise between the two positions. “If there is no agreement on the revenue side, it makes no sense to speak about distribution,” he said.
“We are very far from the realistic possibility to make a deal today,” he said. It is “very likely” that another summit would be needed to reach an agreement. Orbán said that the practice of richer countries contributing a lower share of their GNI to the EU budget than the poorer ones should be discontinued.”
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