The European Commissionʼs Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027 puts member states in Central Europe at a disadvantage, Varga said. The MoU signed by the V4 states – Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic – outlines ways to make up for funding shortfalls in the seven-year strategy, he added.

EU funding should be used to support the convergence of the region, not punish it, Varga asserted. Hungary is pressing for a fair, simple and transparent system based on GNI for paying in to the EU budget, he added.

Varga voiced Hungaryʼs opposition at the conference to a reduction in customs duties from 20% to 10%. He also pressed for a solution to taxing internet companies that does not require harmonizing the corporate tax rate and does not violate agreements on the avoidance of double taxation.

Finance ministers from the V4 were joined at the conference by their counterparts from France and Germany, as well as from Austria, which holds the EUʼs rotating presidency.