London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

EU leaders finally approve coronavirus stimulus package after Hungary and Poland lift their veto

EU leaders finally approve coronavirus stimulus package after Hungary and Poland lift their veto

The latest European impasse over a much-needed stimulus package has finally been overcome, meaning cash-strapped countries will soon get access to a historic level of funding.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, European nations agreed in July to raise 750 billion euros ($908 billion) from public markets and use that money to support the economic recovery across the 27-member region. This was a significant move and came on top of 1.074 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to be spent between 2021 and 2027.

However, the implementation of this agreement had been at risk after Hungary and Poland vetoed linking the disbursements of the funds with compliance of European values — also known as the rule of law mechanism. Both nations have been under investigation for years for allegedly influencing the appointment of top judges and discouraging press freedom — actions that go against European law.

After “long negotiations” over the last few weeks, the 27 EU countries agreed to go ahead with this link, but with a caveat: The two countries will be able to ask for an opinion from the European Court of Justice, the EU’s judicial body, so this institution can rule on whether making the disbursements conditional on the rule of law respects the European treaties.

However, it is likely that it will take more than a year for the ECJ to give its opinion, meaning that the two countries are left off the hook in the meantime. This is particularly relevant for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faces elections in 2022.

The compromise sounds complex but it allows the EU to go ahead with making funds available quickly, while also keeping them conditional on this respect for European values — even if the latter is only likely to kick in at a later stage.


Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the compromise allowed the EU to “avoid arbitrary and political motivated decisions.”

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the deal was a “victory of common sense.”

However, the deal has raised some doubts about its legality and effectiveness.

“You cannot save the Rule of Law by breaking the law,” Guy Verhofstad, a European lawmaker, said on Twitter.

Lawmakers at the European Parliament have to approve the compromise before it becomes official practice.

“Hungary/Poland lift their veto on EU budget, after being reassured that new Rule of Law mechanism won’t be applied to them until a judgment of ECJ will define ‘methodology’ to be applied. This is not only unprecedented, but also legally questionable,” Alberto Alemanno, professor of European law at H.E.C. Business School in Paris, said on Twitter on Thursday.

There are also doubts about when the link between the funds and the rule of law would actually kick in.

Different member states and lawmakers want sanctions to be applied retroactively from January 2021, which could hurt Hungary and Poland for their ongoing standoff with the European Commission over alleged breaches of European law.


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×