Hungary will not allow the European Parliament to block the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, which this country will exercise in the second half of next year, the Minister of Justice of Hungary Judith Varga said on Thursday, reminding that the European Parliament does not even have powers in this matter, reports the Hungarian press, cited by Agerpres .

Judith Varga, Minister of Justice of HungaryPhoto: JOHN THYS / AFP / Profimedia

“The European Parliament again wants to take something from Hungary. Next week, they will again vote for a resolution against Hungary, with which they want to block Hungary’s presidency of the EU Council, Judith Varga said.

The government in Budapest “will not allow” this six-month presidential term to be taken away from Hungary, she added, responding to reports in the international press that several political groups in the European legislature are demanding that the resolution they present include a paragraph that puts under doubt Hungary’s ability to fulfill this presidency, citing violations of the rule of law by the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

But the Council of the EU (member countries), not the European Parliament, is the one who decides on the rotating presidency, and it is a unanimous vote, so the European Parliament “has nothing to do with it”, reminded the Minister of Justice of Hungary. .

Having led a conservative-oriented government for 13 years, Viktor Orbán has a strained relationship with the European Commission, which accuses him of violating the rule of law by restricting the rights of the LGBT community, rejecting migrants, controlling the media, justice and public procurement, or challenging the priority of EU Court decisions. (CJEU) on national legislation.

To this end, the European Commission has blocked Hungary’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), according to which the country is eligible for €5.8 billion in grants from the European Pandemic Recovery Plan. In addition, Brussels launched a new conditionality mechanism against Budapest that allows the European Commission to freeze European funds to member states it believes are violating the rule of law, thus blocking 22 billion euros of cohesion funds belonging to Hungary.

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