Orbán ready to discuss proposed EU funding mechanism

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday he was ready to discuss the new EU funding mechanism outlined in the European Commission’s recent budget proposal for 2021-2027.

Arriving at the founding meeting of his ruling Fidesz party’s parliamentary group after winning the April 8 general election, Orbán was asked to comment on a new mechanism unveiled by EC President Jean-Claude Juncker as part of the budget proposal in Brussels on Wednesday.

Under the new mechanism the bloc could penalise member states that it finds to be violating the rule of law.

“We stand ready to discuss that,” Orbán told journalists in Budapest.

Asked whether Hungary will join the European Prosecutor’s Office, Orbán said that “under the Hungarian constitution prosecution is a matter of sovereignty”.

Orbán was also asked whether the issue of his Fidesz party’s exclusion from the European People’s Party (EPP) came up during his talks with EPP leaders in Brussels on Wednesday.

He said the discussion was exactly about the opposite, namely in what ways could Fidesz participate in the EPP’s campaign for next year’s European parliamentary elections and help EPP’s win.

“I have offered our help,” he said.

Asked if the Central European University‘s continued operation in Budapest might be a condition for smooth cooperation with the EPP, the prime minister said that “no one can set conditions for Hungary in any affair”.

Source: MTI