Hungary could veto EU rescue plan ‘if conditioned on rule of law,’ Orban warns

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said on Friday the EU’s coronavirus recovery plan would be unacceptable if funding were linked to rule-of-law conditions.

The EU’s 27 national leaders are to meet next week for the first time in person since the coronavirus crisis halted policy meetings in Brussels on the next multiannual EU budget and post-pandemic recovery.

“We could veto [a final accord], because it needs to be a unanimous decision, but we would find ourselves facing off with 26 other countries. One should only do that as a last resort,” Orban told Hungarian public radio.

The EU is set to spend €750 billion ($848 billion) on aiding economic recovery in member states hardest hit by the pandemic. “One thing should be carefully avoided: mixing it up with politics. That’s [Hungary’s] gravest condition,” the PM warned.