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JUSTICE MINISTER: HUNGARY, FRANCE AGREE ON SEVERAL EU AFFAIRS

 

Hungary and France hold identical views on several major European issues, Justice Minister Judit Varga told MTI after talks in Paris. Meeting her counterpart Nicole Belloubet and Minister for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin, Varga expounded Hungary’s position on the European Union’s next financial framework. She said that Hungary cannot accept any cuts in cohesion funds which she said are still required for the new member states to catch up with mainstream Europe. Both Hungary and France oppose any decline in Common Agricultural Policy funding, Varga said. No increase in CAP funding should go to the detriment of cohesion funds, she added.
Varga and the French negotiators agreed that nuclear energy is indispensable for a carbon-free European and global economy to emerge. The minister said that time is ripe for closing the Article 7 procedure on Hungary’s rule of law. The issues still open should be discussed before the European Court of Justice, she said. Varga dismissed any plan to incorporate rule-of-law criteria into the new EU budget, arguing that a step like that would “give a political weapon into the hands of the European Commission”.