Practically in the discount minute, as is usual in many European decisions. The Twenty-seven managed to close this Monday night a political agreement that will allow the approval of macro-financial aid of 18,000 million euros for Ukraine and the minimum corporate tax of 15% agreed for large multinationals within the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). These are two of the initiatives that the prime minister of hungary, Viktor Orbán, remained blocked due to his fight against the Brussels proposal to block 13,300 million euros in European funds. Finally, Orbán yields, guarantees the necessary unanimity and will be able to access the recovery funds, although for the moment the EU will block 6,300 million euros in cohesion aid.
What a week ago, in the Council of Economy and Finance Ministers, was impossible was achieved by the permanent ambassadors during a long meeting held this Monday to clear the way for some of the files frozen by Budapest and prevent them from contaminating the agenda of the european leaders who celebrate this Thursday in Brussels their last summit of the year. “Ambassadors in principle have unanimously approved a financial support package to provide Ukraine with 18 billion euros in 2023,” announced the czech presidency from UE. The same with regard to the minimum type of companies that will be applied to large companies in accordance with the pact closed last year in the OECD, according to confirmed by the same sources.
In exchange, the Twenty-seven agree to approve the hungary recovery planthe only one that was pending approval, and that will allow Budapest to access to the €5.8 billion assigned to your country. As he proposed Brusselsthe disbursement -like the rest of the plans already approved- will be conditional on the Fulfillment of Promised Investments and Reforms within the framework of the plan, including all those related to the fight against corruption and the rule of law. Governments had resisted for months to approve the plan that had a deadline. If not approved before December 31, Hungary I would have lost 70% of the funds. Brussels finally recommended a few weeks ago to the governments their approval but the pulse of Orbán prevented it in the last Ecofin.
6.3 billion frozen
Related news
In what the rest of the European partners have not yielded is in the application of the conditionality mechanism and the freezing of cohesion funds. Brussels proposed at the end of November the freezing of a third of the cohesion funds (65% or about 7,500 million) until Budapest did not comply with the reforms promised in the framework of the conditionality mechanism of the rule of law. The Twenty-seven decided to postpone the decision last Monday and request a new analysis from Brussels on the alleged progress made by Hungary since last November 19 to reassess the possible punishment.
The analysis sent last Friday by the European Comission The 27 EU ambassadors were reaffirmed in their initial assessment: “Despite the measures taken by Hungary, the general risk to the EU budget remains unchanged” and the EU had to freeze 7,500 million for lack of progress in the fight against corruption and defend the rule of law. The final figure, however, will be lower than that proposed by Brussels: 6.300 million. The formal approval of all these agreements -waiting for Poland to lift its reservations to the agreement on corporate tax- is planned through a written procedure that will conclude this Wednesday, on the eve of the last European Council of the year. Spain celebrated the result on Tuesday. “The decision yesterday by Coreper – permanent ambassadors – to approve the package is excellent news. There is still a fringe but it is excellent news because it unlocks financial aid for Hungary and an important part of the fiscal package. We trust that this spirit of consensus will cover other important decisions such as sanctions and other decisions that were blocked,” said the Spanish Secretary of State, Pascual Navarro.