The Daily Populous Tuesday April 1st, 2025 morning edition
Authored by politico.eu and submitted by PrestigiousZombie726

The German parties ― Merz’s victors and the SPD who led the last government ― are currently negotiating to form a coalition and need to agree on underlying principles before taking office. An agreement to pressure the EU to go after countries like Hungary forms part of a series of provisional deals covering issues as diverse as migration policy, the phaseout of coal and welfare spending.

“Existing protective instruments, from infringement proceedings and the withholding of EU funds to the suspension of membership rights such as voting rights in the Council of the EU, must be applied much more consistently than before,” negotiators from Merz’s conservative bloc and the SPD wrote in a draft coalition agreement on EU politics.

The European Parliament triggered the first phase of the Article 7 procedure — also known as the “nuclear option” — against Hungary in 2018 over suspected “serious breaches” of the bloc’s core values and fundamental rights. But the process, which could lead to the suspension of Hungary’s voting rights, has stalled because of political divisions among member countries.

In 2022, the European Commission moved to block about €22 billion in EU cash earmarked to Hungary amid concerns over human rights and the independence of the judiciary. It eventually unfroze more than €10 billion last year, sparking a backlash.

Another point of contention between the EU and Hungary’s government has been Orbán’s friendliness toward Moscow, with Budapest repeatedly making use of its veto power to block sanctions on Russian oligarchs and military chiefs.

To circumvent that veto power, the incoming German government wants to “advocate an expansion of qualified majority voting in the Council of the EU, particularly on certain issues of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), such as the imposition of sanctions.” That would enable decisions to be taken without the need for Hungarian approval.

ChimeeFemboyAlt on April 1st, 2025 at 00:50 UTC »

Please stop sending any money to Orban. He is literally a puppet within Europes borders spreading dictators influence.

eskimospy212 on March 31st, 2025 at 22:45 UTC »

Yes yes yes.

The EU cannot function effectively if a single state that no longer holds their values can exploit it.

If Hungary wants EU money then they need to behave like an EU state. If they don’t want to do that they should leave or the EU should expel them.

hypercomms2001 on March 31st, 2025 at 22:42 UTC »

About right that Orban’s voting rights should be suspended.