The Eurozone budget must not overlap the existing (financial) instruments and (fiscal) objectives of the European Union, as doing so would exacerbate differences between the regions and jeopardize efforts aiming to bolster the common market, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga said at the latest Eurogroup meeting in inclusive format in Brussels.

Given the significance of the issue, the Minister added, the cornerstones of the Eurozone budget, to be drafted as part of the EU budget, must be laid down by EU heads of state via a unanimous decision.

EU heads of state decided in December 2018 that the drafting of a Eurozone budget must soon begin, Mihály Varga pointed out. Germany and France had originally proposed this but the original plans have been modified through the decision of EU heads of state. Thus, an instrument is to be created as part of the EU’s seven-year budgetary framework. This aims to bolster the Eurozone’s competitiveness and accelerate convergence, the Minister stressed.

The Hungarian Government has insisted at the talks that this new instrument be indeed created as part of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), and the related decision should only be made through a unanimous vote of the EU27, after the interests of non-Eurozone member states have also been fully taken into consideration.

In his presentation of Hungary’s standpoint, the Minister said that the financial resources of the Eurozone budget can only be considered as additional funds -- other than the financial resources of existing EU policies and programmes – which can be boosted either by increasing the financial framework of the multiannual budget or the revenues from EU member states. We oppose the proposal that some MFF funds be used to this end, the Minister noted.

(Ministry of Finance)