Hungary and Poland may have won the battle at the recent EU summit on the issue of rule of law criteria being tied to EU funds, but the war is far from over, Hungarian MEP Tamás Deutsch, caucus leader of the governing Hungarian Fidesz party in the European Parliament, told conservative daily Magyar Nemzet in an interview.
“The current compromise is the biggest battle we have won so far in the fight against the left-liberal forces, but the war is not over,” Deutsch said. “They will soon launch renewed attacks with multiplied forces. The approved text for the rule of law is not linked to protecting the financial interests of the Union.”
Deutsch said the marathon EU summit that stretched from Friday to Tuesday was a success for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who, amid the complex negotiations there managed to avert the threat to link rule of law compliance to the transfer of EU funds and also secured an additional €3 billion for Hungary from the economic recovery package.
Still, when asked by Magyar Nemzet about the significance of the result and short-term prospects, Deutsch said that this was no time for complacency.
Speaking about the origins of the rule of law debate, Deutsch said it was but an excuse of Soros-backed forces to attack Hungary.
“The political moves initiated by the left-liberal side in conjunction with the Soros organizations who call themselves the guardians of rights, together with the media and part of the European People’s Party have nothing to do with the rule of law.” Deutsch said. “They just want to have another means of pressuring the member states whose policies they dislike.”
He added that “they have no intention of defining breaches of the rule of law by normative legal criteria, instead they would apply sanctions even when only the suspicion of systemic threats to the rule of law exist, which is a rather flexible definition, suited to political blackmail.”
Like Orbán said in a Sunday interview to the international press, Deutsch reiterated that Hungary was a believer in the rule of law and in strict control of EU financing: “We fully support the intentions to control the orderly use of EU funds.”
Deutsch said that the battle will continue in the European Parliament on three fronts.
First, he predicts that there will be many objections that the budget may insufficiently support some high added value areas. Secondly, there will be new proposals that may go against Hungary’s interests, and thirdly, the “rule of law fight will continue, in which about half of the European People’s Party will join the left-liberal majority.”
Despite these challenges, Deutsch said that Hungary stands by the compromise reached in Brussels.
“The European Parliament will vote on the final package in September and in line with Hungary’s interests we will support the compromise reached by the Council.”
Title image: Fidesz MEP and caucus leader Tamás Deutsch. (source: European Parliament)
