Orbán: new EU budget proposal is unfair

Portfolio
The proposal made by the outgoing European Commission on the next budget of the European Union is unjust, and "we want justice", said Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Prague on Tuesday.
andrejbabisorbanviktor

Orbán is attending a summit of the Group of Friends of Cohesion, an event agreed upon by the premiers of the Visegrad Four countries (V4, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) in early 2019. Following a V4 meeting, Orbán underlined that the plan being discussed all over Europe, the proposal of the outgoing European Commission reflects all the mistakes of the EU executive.

The Hungarian PM remarked about the enlargement of the EU that they are all disappointed with the delay in accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. He urged to accelerate negotiations with countries that are already involved in consultations in a bid to mitigate the impact of such a bad decision.

The European Commission's proposal to lower funding for the Cohesion Fund in the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) si unacceptable, stated Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis in Prague today after the working meeting of V4 PMs.

The European Commission proposes a long-term budget equivalent to 1.0% of the EU's gross national income (GNI), versus 1.11% proposed earlier.

The Czech Premier underlined that the goal of cohesion policy is to gradually balance out the differences between the standard of living in western and eastern member states. "The reduction is unacceptable. At the same time, it needs to be given priority to spend EU funds sensibly. We need to be given the opportunity to decide on investments ourselves, on a national level," Babis stated.

(Cover photo: Andrej Babis Czech Prime Minister receives his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán ahead of a prime ministerial meeting at a summit of the Group of Friends of Cohesion in Prague on 5 November 2019. MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltán Fischer)

This article is part of the work programme titled "The impacts of EU cohesion policy in Hungary - Present and Future" which is carried out by Net Média Zrt., the publisher of Portfolio.hu, between 1st April 2019 and 31st March 2020 with European Union financing. The views in this article solely reflect the opinions of the author. The European Commission as the funding entity does not take any responsibility for the use of information presented in this article.
 

More in EU funds

eu-támogatás uniós forrás kohéziós forrás-építészet-épület-Európai-Unió-homlokzat-Magyarország-unió-város-zászló
October 16, 2025 12:55

Hungary faces decision on whether it can retain massive EU subsidies

Pressure on budget may ease, but there are many risks on the horizon

eu-csúcs
October 16, 2025 10:07

Not Hungary, but two other countries torpedo the new EU sanctions against Russia

A surprising situation arose ahead of the 23 October EU summit

eu európai bizottság berlaymont uniós támogatás eu-forrás
October 15, 2025 15:57

Hungary's stunt blows up in its face, EU freezes even more funds

Budapest tries legal trick, which results in temporary loss of further EU funds

vasút-bűncselekmény-orfk-rendőrség-áruszállítás-jogsértés-szabálysértés-pályaudvar-illegális-migráció
October 14, 2025 09:11

Europe would start mass deportations

EU Member States, however, got lost in the details

várhelyi olivér
October 13, 2025 16:25

Ursula von der Leyen heard Olivér Várhelyi's account of the spy scandal in person

The investigation has begun. Hungarian commissioner denies any connection to the Brussels agent network

October 10, 2025 15:40

Brussels has made its decision: Trump's ultimatums must be rejected.

Any new demands cannot override the existing joint agreement

LATEST NEWS
Charting is displayed using TradingView's technology, a platform, where you can build advanced charts, spot upcoming trends in the stock screener, and find inspiration in multiple trading ideas

Detailed search