BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused the EU Friday of not approving his government's post-coronavirus recovery spending plan due to a row over LGBTQ rights.
The European Commission is responsible for paying out the bloc's 800-billion-euro ($950 billion) pandemic recovery fund but has yet to give Hungary the greenlight for its 7.2 billion euro plan.
"Reconstruction funds are loans that Brussels does not want to give us now because of the debate around LGBTQ policy," Orban said in an interview on state media.
While 16 member states' spending plans have been definitively approved, evaluations are continuing on seven, including Hungary and Poland who are at loggerheads with Brussels over their LGBTQ issues and the rule of law.
Tensions between Hungary and its EU partners boiled over in June over a controversial anti-LGBTQ law adopted by the Hungarian parliament, which critics say equates paedophilia to homosexuality.
The EU insists that its appraisal of the recovery plan does not involve the LGBTQ law and that the delay is due to shortcomings by Hungary on anti-corruption commitments and guarantees on the independence of the courts.
In July, the EU executive prolonged the assessment period of Hungary's plan to the end of September, prompting Orban to say that Budapest would look to raise funds from its own budget and market financing until the deadlock was resolved.
Earlier this week Hungary's government debt management agency (AKK) raised approximately 4.5 billion euros in global markets.
Orban said Friday that the sale, Hungary's largest ever one-day new debt issuance, showed that the country was financially solid.
He said that while "continuous challenges" can be expected from the EU, Hungary "will stand up for its sovereignty".
Despite the rifts with Brussels, Orban said that "we will be among the last ones in the EU, should it ever cease to exist".
"The EU is important for us because it provides Hungary with a market," he said.