The European Union must by "end-December" implement its 750 billion euro stimulus package to help the bloc recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday.
"I am confident that the European Council summit in December will resolve this," Conte told Italy's Tg5 news bulletin.
He was referring to Hungary and Poland's opposition to an EU plan to link respect for the rule of law and democratic standards to its €1.8 trillion budget which includes the recovery fund.
After the "arduous" negotiations between members of the 27-nation bloc in July, there was now a "moral imperative" to implement the recovery package by the end of December, Conte argued.
"All European citizens are waiting for this including countries like Hungary and Poland, which are wielding a veto. I am certain these states will overcome this - it is in their interests to do so," Conte said.
The Coronavirus-ravaged EU faces a severe economic hit from the current second wave of the pandemic.
Italy stands to receive 209 billion euros of the recovery fund - the biggest share of any EU member - and should receive the money in grants and low-interest loans by 2023.
The EU had plans to implement the budget and rescue package in January.
