Besides Ukraine and Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina should also be granted European Union candidate status, Judit Varga, the justice minister, said in Brussels ahead of a summit of EU leaders. Bosnia-Herzegovina must not be “left out” of the group of Western Balkan countries aiming to join the EU, she said.
Meanwhile, Varga said next year’s national budget had been designed to tackle the impacts of a protracted war in Ukraine, adding that the cap on utility prices and defence were focal points in the draft. “The European Commission should follow the same logic rather than aiming to restrict the competitiveness of countries and increase the gap between them,” she said.
Also, the planned global minimum tax was “untimely” amid soaring inflation and energy prices, she said, adding that such a measure would negatively affect Europe’s competitiveness. “Most countries in the world, the United States included, are not even planning to introduce it in the short term,” she added.
Concerning Hungary’s plan to access EU economic recovery funds, Varga said the European Commission should allow early access to funding “which could have a crucial role in handling the current crisis and recession … instead of [pursuing] redundant, politically generated disputes delaying the decision.” The government, she added, was “always available when a readiness for cooperation, openness and professional consensus are called for.”
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