Access to single market key to Hungary's EU membership - Orban (updated)
17/09/2021 11:39
* Hungary would be among last still in EU if it ends -Orban
* Hungary, in row with EU, taps global markets for funds
* EU more than just a single market, Commissioner Jourova
(Adds comments from EU Commissioner Jourova)
By Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Hungary must remain a member
of the European Union to ensure continued access to the bloc's
single market, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
Hungary and Poland have been at odds with Brussels over
issues ranging from LGBT rights to media freedoms. In July, the
executive European Commission launched legal action against both
over measures it says discriminate against the gay community.
Conservative nationalist Orban said that for Hungary, a net
beneficiary of EU funds, the main reason for staying in the EU
was not money coming from Brussels.
He also said a debt sale this week had shown Hungary stood
on solid ground financially -- the government debt agency
raised the equivalent of 4.4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) in
global markets, much more than expected, to help cover a likely
delay in money from the EU recovery fund which is meant to help
the bloc recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QH0LB
"If you look at the full year, we get more money from
Brussels than what we pay. But if you subtract the amount of
money western (companies) repatriate from the country each year,
the balance is negative," Orban told public radio.
"The EU is important for us because it provides Hungary with
a market ... We need to stand up for the EU and remain in it.
That is why I say no matter how it creaks and crackles, we will
be the among the few still in the union should it ever end."
The Commission has accused Poland and Hungary of undermining
media pluralism and court independence, and has put both
countries under formal EU investigation for undermining the rule
of law. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2OW35G
Speaking in a panel discussion hosted by the City of
Budapest, European Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera
Jourova said the EU was a "union of values", a community built
on common standards which the Commission was ready to uphold.
When disbursing funds under the next EU budget, the
Commission will ensure investments "make sense" to citizens,
that use of EU funding respects fundamental values, and that EU
funds are protected against potential misuse and corruption or
use of "the political key for distribution," she said.
"We really mean it seriously that the money will not go to
the projects which do not respect fundamental rights," she
added.
($1 = 0.8498 euros)
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs, Editing by Mark Potter and
Timothy Heritage)
((gergely.szakacs@reuters.com ; https://twitter.com/szakacsg ;
+36 1 882 3606 ;
https://www.reuters.com/journalists/gergely-szakacs))