“That will soon be the case,” said Hahn in response to a corresponding question from the “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (Saturday). “It’s a down payment of 13 percent of the total. The remaining 87 percent will follow gradually after the set goals have been achieved.” Hahn also announced “initiatives” related to the rule of law mechanism. The EU Commission approved the Austrian plan for the Corona reconstruction program in June.
Austria will receive EUR 3.5 billion in EU grants for projects that focus on rail and broadband expansion as well as eco-investments. The EU’s Corona reconstruction program provides a total of 800 billion euros. It is financed through debts that are to be repaid by 2058.
“An extraordinary reaction”
When asked about further borrowing to cope with new crises, Hahn was reluctant. “It was an extraordinary reaction to an extraordinary situation. In order to get the approval of all member countries, we had to activate an article of the treaty that makes it clear that borrowing is a temporary process, even if it will take until 2058 for the money to be paid back.”
Hahn also announced that it would take the first initiatives in connection with the rule of law mechanism “in the course of the autumn”. “There are two possibilities,” explained Hahn: “First of all, we can request further clarification from Hungary and Poland and send a letter – in other words, a preliminary stage of the actual process. Or we have already collected all the material for ourselves, then we can deal with it immediately start a process lasting a maximum of nine months. “
Criticism of Hungary
The rule of law mechanism has been in force since the beginning of this year and entitles the Commission to cut EU funds from the Community budget in the event of rule-of-law misconduct. In this context, the focus has so far mainly been on Poland and Hungary, who have been criticized in Brussels for violating the rule of law and basic democratic values for years.
Hahn criticized Hungary, whose finance minister Mihaly Varga had questioned his country’s membership as soon as Hungary was no longer a net recipient but a net payer. “Such statements are also the reason why the accession negotiations in the Western Balkans are delayed. Many member states and their parliaments say that we will only accept someone again when we have the guarantee that we will no longer be confronted with such statements. The EU is not one ATM that you can use “, stressed Hahn.
