Spiegel knows that Brussels would make available the first tranche from the recovery fund, but before that it will activate the legal proceedings against Warsaw and Budapest, which will allow the respective funds to be opened. This can be seen as a step forward in the debate.

Spiegel also points out that the release of coronavirus margins will be welcomed in Hungary and Poland, mainly due to the larger amount.

Poland uses roughly 24 lots of non-refundable grants and a further twelve other euros of loans from the fund.

This corresponds to 7% of Polish GDP. Hungary, on the other hand, requested “only” EUR 7.2 million.

According to Spiegel, if the Commission approves the payment, the approval of the European Council will be received within one month, ie 13% of the amount requested for “rapid pre-financing” for further receipt by Hungary and Poland.

Like all countries, Hungary and Poland had to submit detailed plans to Brussels for the use of aid funds. However, the European Commission’s investigation has dragged on, as the debate over the dismantling of Hungarian and Polish democracy and the rule of law has recently intensified. According to Spiegel, the European Commission therefore makes the release of the funds subject to conditions such as the enforcement of judgments of the European Court of Justice.

According to the paper, Hungary and Poland are also under severe pressure, as if they do not comply with the Commission’s requests by November, most of their councils will no longer be able to give a green light to pre-financing payments by the end of the year, saying goodbye to the first 13 installments.

We also wrote in detail about the situation and the debate:

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