BRUSSELS / AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands were victorious on Tuesday after a European Union summit left open the way to link a new coronavirus recovery fund to democratic values, raising questions on whether compliance would be possible or significant.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (left), European Council President Charles Michel, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a final round table after a four-day European summit at the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, July 21, 2020. Stephanie Lecocq / Pool via REUTERS
EU leaders negotiated a post-pandemic fund of € 750 billion ($ 859.05 billion) and a budget of € 1.1 trillion after nearly five days of talks in Brussels, but conditions for state payments of law were not detailed in the final declaration.
EU leaders agreed “a conditionality regime to protect the budget”, leaving the European Commission, the EU executive, to propose measures. However, the 27 EU states would have to accept a new mechanism.
EU rules already allow for ways to sanction democratic breaches, but they are difficult to implement and many EU leaders want something more direct, concerned about the growing authoritarianism of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The vague language paled in comparison to previous promises of difficult conditions. The EU prides itself on media freedom and human rights. The European Commission, lawmakers, experts and activists say freedoms are threatened in Poland and Hungary.
“The core of what was proposed in the drafts is still there, and that is crucial,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said of the summit’s final statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said: “In our conclusions we are committed to accepting and protecting … the principles of respect for the rule of law.”
But Orban told reporters that he had “frustrated and repelled” efforts to link the disbursement of funds to democratic values. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki praised the “complete supervisory architecture” as a success.
Daniel Hegedus of the German Marshall Fund think tank said the situation was more nuanced.
The summit “did not agree to a rule of law-specific conditionality mechanism … but the assertion by Morawiecki and Orban that they protect the introduction of conditionality in the new budget is not in accordance with the facts,” Hegedus said. to Reuters.
Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt in Berlin, Gergely Szakacs in Budapest and Marcin Goclowski in Warsaw; Editing by Nick Macfie
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