Instead of taking out new loans, all member states should receive the funds they are entitled to, a Hungarian MEP has said.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament voted in favour of the report that calls for the adoption of the so-called Next Generation EU recovery instrument aimed to help post-pandemic recovery as a general borrowing method. During the debate in the European Parliament, Eniko Gyori, an MEP of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, pointed out that

„it is not taking out new loans that we need. However, it is necessary for member states to access the existing framework as soon as possible and with as few obstacles to surmount as possible. For politically-motivated reasons, Hungary has not been able to access the recovery fund, while the country is already paying the interest on the loan.”

„We knew when we took out the loan that we were playing with fire, and this has been confirmed,” Ms Gyori added. We did not want to solve the pandemic-induced crisis at the expense of future generations, our children and grandchildren, but we listened to the request of the southern European countries facing a difficult situation. Hungary has had its own bad experience: my country was pushed deep into debt by the Communists, and then toiled, generation after generation, to repay that debt after the fall of Socialism.

We did not want the EU to one day end up like that. In 2020, we made an agreement that the recovery fund, financed by borrowing, was a one-time and extraordinary solution. Now, however, the EP strives to make this tool permanent, and even make it a part of the budget. This move is completely incompatible with the Treaties. However, neither the given word, nor common sense matters to the left,”

the Hungarian MEP explained. She added that Monday’s debate had proved that the leftist majority will not rest so long as Hungary has a conservative government. Eniko Gyori remarked that she only trusted that the European Commission will be level-headed enough to impartially judge the measures brought by Hungary in order to ensure a fair use of the resources.