Poland on Wednesday night refused to back a package to give 18 billion euros in European Union aid to Ukraine, as well as two seemingly unrelated but actually related decisions for Hungary due to concerns on a separate plan for minimum corporate tax ratefour EU diplomats told the European editorial team of “Politico”.
“There is great disappointment that Poland is jeopardizing aid to Ukraine by blocking the minimum tax,” an EU diplomat said, describing the move as “another hostage situation”.
The four separate issues – support for Ukraine, the Hungarian Pandemic Recovery Fund spending plan, the decision to freeze 6.3 billion euros of funds for Budapest and tax reform – were part of a package to be adopted on Thursday.
An initial Wednesday deadline of 17:00 was extended to 20:00 at the request of Poland. When even that deadline was met, Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council, tried at the last minute to persuade his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, to back off. However, Fiala was unsuccessful. Morawiecki is now expected to take the matter to a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, diplomats said, though the topic is not officially on the agenda.
The deadline for acceptance has now been extended to Thursday, with no specific timetable, the diplomats said. Under the terms of the package, if one of the four items is vetoed, such as Poland’s minimum tax rate, all four items will not be approved.
Poland blocked the minimum rate for monthsbefore appearing to back off when he gets his recovery plan approved.
Then it was the turn of Hungary brakesAs far as he lifted his veto on Monday. But Warsaw expressed last-minute reservations at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Monday.
“It’s like a failed relationship: they keep promising that next time will be different, but deep down we know we’re going to get hurt again and again,” said another EU diplomat.
The Polish government did not respond to a request for comment.
