A separate budget for the eurozone is against the interests of Hungary, Varga said at the meeting.
The creation of stabilization budget for the eurozone was first brought up by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and at the time it was intended to be worth several percent of the European Union’s gross domestic product and aimed at increasing the area’s resilience to crises. Germany was behind the idea, but some eurozone member states – most notably the Netherlands – opposed it.
Last month France and Germany agreed on the concept that the money should be placed in the EU’s common long-term budget, but the size of the fund was not specified.
Varga said that if the eurozone member states had a separate budget at their disposal it would result in serious risks and that is why Hungary does not support the plan. He added that a separate eurozone budget would also unnecessarily widen the gap between member states within and outside it.
He also said economic development, cohesion, innovation, research and development are all areas of common interest for every member state and no group should be allowed to have special privileges.
Varga said the plan would exclude member states outside the eurozone from additional funding for joint EU economic policy goals and impose stricter coordination of national economic policies, something Hungary does not support.
