The union will launch a recovery plan without Poland and Hungary, says the head of the European Parliament

The union will launch a recovery plan without Poland and Hungary, says the head of the European Parliament

The € 750 billion recovery and resilience plan agreed by EU heads of state and government in July this year will be launched despite a blockade by Poland and Hungary. This was stated by the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, in an interview with the Italian television station Sky Tg24, from which several European media are quoted. The recovery plan aims to help EU countries get on their feet after the corona crisis and at the same time use this financial incentive to modernize their economies and societies in a time of digital transition and the climate crisis. However, the recovery plan is closely linked to the EU's multiannual financial framework, as the seven-year budget is seen as a strong guarantee for the loans that the Union wants to apply for on the global financial markets. "We cannot back down," Sassoli said, stressing that the agreement on a fund to revive the economy affected by the COVID-19 pandemic would be maintained despite opposition from Warsaw and Budapest. Poland and Hungary have blocked the approval of a seven-year EU budget for 2021-2027 of € 1.1 trillion for a new legal mechanism that makes the use of Eurofunds conditional on the rule of law. Sassoli said that if at the end of the week at the forthcoming EU summit (10-11 December), leaders fail to reach a consensus on this dispute, the Union will continue to look for solutions to launch the recovery fund without their participation. A similar statement was made last week by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said in an interview with the Belgian television station RTBF that the European Commission was working on solutions for how the rescue fund could work despite the Hungarian and Polish sentences.