The European Union needs a signal from Poland and Hungary on Monday or Tuesday that they will drop their veto of the EU budget and recovery fund, or the bloc will have to set it up without the two member states, a senior EU diplomat said. Warsaw and Budapest, both under EU scrutiny for undermining judicial and media independence, are blocking the budget and the recovery fund because they object to making the money conditional on respect for the rule of law and democratic norms. “We need to have an agreement by Hungary and Poland by today or tomorrow at the latest. If we don’t, we will have to move to scenario B,” the ... (full story)