France Says Dust-Up With Poland and Hungary Puts EU at Risk
- Poland, Hungary determined to veto EU budget and recovery fund
- Deal must be reached by Dec. 7 to avert major disruptions
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The dogged opposition of Poland and Hungary to the European Union’s budget and recovery package has turned into a dangerous stand-off with nations in deep recession in dire need of help to cope with the pandemic.
Unless these two holdouts drop their veto on the deal within days, France warned of severe and potentially existential disruption to the 27-nation bloc still coping with Brexit. The alarm came at a meeting of EU envoys in Brussels on Friday, when Polish and Hungarian ambassadors dug in. They object to the disbursement of 1.8 trillion-euros ($2.2 trillion) being tied to democratic standards they are accused of falling short of.