Gulyas: Parlt conditions on EU recovery package binding for PM

The Hungarian parliament has the sole authority to change the conditions it approved in a bill on Tuesday regarding the European Union's coronavirus rescue package, the PM's chief of staff told commercial television. At the EU summit this week, Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be bound by those conditions, Gergely Gulyas said in an interview with HirTv late on Tuesday. The prime minister would have to re-submit any changes to parliament for another debate, he added. Since the EU plans to take out a loan to finance its post-pandemic recovery package and every member state must provide a guarantee, a parliamentary resolution was warranted, he said. Opinions on the loan are "far apart" within the bloc, Gulyas said. "Whether Hungary vetoes [the proposal] isn't the question." Countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria refuse to provide aid to the southern member states and would only provide loans, he said. Meanwhile, central Europe "has its own conditions", he added.