Hungary to leave EU at the beginning of next decade?
There is a chance that at the end of the 2020s, Hungary would reconsider its European Union membership.
Hungary joined the European Union in 2004, hoping to catch up to its Westerns partners in the community. While many years have passed and a significant change in the small Central European state is visible now in all aspects of life, Hungary is still somewhat behind.
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After 17 years of membership, the country, for instance, is still using its national currency instead of introducing the euro.
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The common EU currency is not the only example showing the differences among Union members regarding money.
Ever since Hungary joined the community, it has always taken more out of the joint budget than it has paid in.
However, despite the joint efforts to financially help the less fortunate member states and elevate them to the same level, some countries are starting to raise their voices against this and see it as unfair. Especially those who pay in significantly more than what they have been receiving in return.
Telegraph brings up the example of the EU budget cycle from 2018, when Hungary received over £4 billion, mainly to even out inequalities across the bloc. The same year, the still EU member UK paid almost double of this amount into the pot.
This unequal and unfair situation, although based on agreed-on factors like the population and the country’s GDP, will soon change.
Hungary is expected to become a net contributor to the budget by 2030.
It means that it will pay into the collective budget rather than taking out.
Finance Minister Mihály Varga told ATV that
the country might rethink its position by the end of this decade.
Although he would still vote yes if a hypothetical vote were to take place on the membership this year, he also added how his opinion might change drastically in the near future.
“When we evaluate us being net contributors to the EU, there is a chance for a new perspective on the issue. Especially if the attacks coming from Brussels become permanent because of our choices of values”, said Varga.
Which values was he speaking about? The most recent confrontation between the Hungarian government and the European Union, more precisely the European Commission, is based on the newly introduced “homophobic law”, widely seen as discriminative. Many political leaders around the world and inside the EU have commented on or even protested against it. The Commission itself has been looking for a solution to penalising the Orbán government for not respecting fundamental human rights. It seems like one of the legislative branches of the EU has found a way to do so.
Has the European Parliament found a way to sanction Hungary for the “homophobic law”?
Hungary once again got into a battle with Brussels and the other member states over the access to Budapest’s cut of the massive pot of cash created for the economic recovery of the member states from the pandemic.
The European Commission is trying to delay the approval of the pay-outs and link it directly to certain conditions, such as cracking down on corruption, respecting the Rule of Law, human rights, and press freedom.
Things that are currently seen as being compromised in Hungary.
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“The country doesn’t have time for these games. That’s why we’re going to launch the national plan with our own resources,” Varga said.