German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday he is “confident” that the deadlock over the EU’s €1.8 trillion budget and recovery fund package due to a dispute over the rule of law can be solved soon.
“I am sure that due to the great pressure that exists now, it will also be possible to find a solution by the December Council,†Maas said, referring to a planned European Council summit of EU leaders on December 10-11.
Negotiators from the German presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament earlier this month reached agreements on the bloc’s next seven-year budget and a related scheme that could lead to a withdrawal of EU budget payments if a country violates certain rule-of-law criteria. But Hungary and Poland last week blocked the approval of the budget deal and the related coronavirus recovery fund as they oppose the rule-of-law scheme.
“We need a solution and we need it now, and we need it fast. And I am confident that everyone is aware of their responsibility and will do their part to help us solve this in the coming days,†Maas said in a panel discussion at the Berlin Policy Forum, an event organized by the Körber Stiftung foundation.
Alongside Maas on the panel were the foreign ministers of Portugal, Augusto Santos Silva, and Slovenia, Anže Logar — the two countries that will next year hold the rotating Council presidency.
Santos Silva raised the possibility of issuing a “guarantee” to Hungary and Poland to assure them “that there is legal certainty in the [rule-of-law] mechanism that we created” and that countries accused of breaching rule-of-law criteria will have “the opportunity to defend themselves and to appeal to the Council and so on.”
Logar, whose Prime Minister Janez JanÅ¡a last week rushed to the defense of Hungary and Poland, said the EU must “find an agreement that is acceptable to all citizens” and respects “the balance between [EU] institutions and member states.”
“It’s important to have the rule of law, but we do not have to over-politicize because those are topics that can be used as weapons by some,” he said.
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