POLAND and Hungary will block the European Union’s budget at a summit next week unless it drops conditions attached to funding access, their prime ministers say.

Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki met Hungary’s Viktor Orban on Monday and the two confirmed a pact by which they will veto the budget — including a €750 billion (£675bn) stimulus package to address economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic — if it contains any clauses unacceptable to either of them.

The pair object to a clause allowing the EU to withhold funds from countries deemed not to adhere to democratic standards.