EU citizens are not cash cows
What the European Union is proposing goes well beyond all reasonable dimension and is a policy failure on the part of Brussels, says Harald Vilimsky, head of the Austrian Freedom Party's (FPO) EP delegation. The politician was reacting to the European Commission's proposal that EU member states should provide a total of €50 billion in non-repayable grants and loans to Ukraine over the next four years to help rebuild the country. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the Brussels-based body, said the reserve set aside from the multi-year financial framework would allow the EU to calculate aid to Ukraine according to the developments in the war. According to the FPO, the European Commission is spending too much senselessly;
Ursula von der Leyen has deeply embroiled the EU in the war in Ukraine. Moreover, with the Green Agreement, she has created a dirigiste mega-program which imposes a giant burden on European citizens. The von der Leyen-led EU bureaucracy is constantly taking on new tasks, which it then wants to finance. We must now clearly tell this European Commission that enough is enough!
How can it happen that Austrian taxpayers are being forced to support Ukraine to such an extent without their consent, while they themselves have to accept austerity measures? So far, well over €60 billion has already flowed from the EU to a country plagued by massive corruption problems. While the EU is freezing payments due to Hungary and Poland, they are giving Ukraine a blank check, Petra Steger, the FPO's European policy spokesperson, has already said. As she put it:
it seems that Brussels cannot be stopped when it comes to new spending and the ever-expanding EU bureaucracy. Under von der Leyen, EU funding is becoming a bottomless pit - this must stop.
The FPO is firmly of the opinion that the European Union should make do with the existing budget, adapt its tasks accordingly and, if necessary, return powers to the member states. European taxpayers should not become the cash cows of Brussels's fantasies of omnipotence, reads the party's statement.
Could the EU go bankrupt?
There is also growing discontent in Poland about Brussels's budget wizardry. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party says the European Union must urgently and significantly cut its spending. Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, a pro-government politician, wrote on Twitter that otherwise it could easily find itself on the brink of bankruptcy.
As reported by Magyar Nemzet earlier in the day, Daniel Deak, senior analyst at the 21st Century Institute, a Hungarian research institute, said that we cannot even be sure that the EU funds Hungary is entitled to still exist. According to the political scientist, while Hungary has not been receiving the EU funds due to the country for a long time, Ukraine, a non-EU member, is being financed with additional funds, requiring Hungary to pay even more money into the common coffers, while also having to pay a fine for migrants it refuses to accept, based on the migrant quota. Mr Deak posted on his social media page
With EU funds running out in support of Ukraine, Brussels wants more payments from member states, but more borrowing is not out of the question either. At the same time, Ursula von der Leyen announced another €50 billion in aid for Ukraine.
