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What should the EU do with Hungary and Poland?
It is starting to get quite exhausting having two member states doing their best to sabotage the work of the EU while collecting large contributions from the Union.
That cannot continue.
Photo: Czarek Sokolowski / TT NEWS AGENCY
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
His latest destabilizing action is to hold the EU hostage by vetoing the EU budget and special aid package for the corona pandemic.
The reason is that the support is conditional on the recipients having to comply with the EU legal principles. This includes having an independent legal system and a democratic process. Otherwise, you risk losing financial support.
The decision to withdraw a grant can be made by qualified majority, but without all countries agreeing.
The fact that EU membership is based on democracy and the rule of law can hardly be news to Poland and Hungary. This is what they wrote when they joined the EU in 2004. The same is true of other former eastern states that in Soviet times were indirectly controlled from Moscow.
Unfortunately, in recent years, both Poland and Hungary have slipped in the opposite direction thanks to right-wing populist leaders who have succeeded in getting voters to vote for a more authoritarian government which in turn has dismantled the rule of law, freedom of press and democracy.
Other EU countries have tried to stop this development, but Poland and Hungary have refused to give in to signals from Brussels.
It has now reached a point where many Western European countries are tired of two Member States undermining the Union by introducing social systems that directly violate the fundamental democratic norms of the EU.
Most contributions
Sweden has been one of the countries that has pressed the most due to the requirement to condition support.
It is easy to understand why.
Poland and Hungary are among the countries that receive the most EU subsidies, billions of sums each year. Swedish and European taxpayers are involved in financing the construction of roads and new hospitals, to name a few.
Why should we continue to do so when these countries are simultaneously embarking on a path that leads to totalitarian societies?
The easiest thing would be if he could just put the two before an ultimatum. Maintain freedom, democracy and the rule of law, otherwise we will kick you out of the EU.
Unfortunately, this is not possible.
For some unfathomable reason, the EU Treaty was drafted in such a way that it is not possible to exclude a country. The worst a country can experience is losing its right to vote. But then a unanimous decision from other countries is required.
So despite the fact that the EU has started legal proceedings against both countries, Poland and Hungary can continue to challenge the rest of the EU as long as they have each other. The risk is also obvious that another of the former eastern states will fight back.
So while Angela Merkel, Stefan Löfven and the others would like to punish Poland and Hungary, they can do little more than clench their fists in their pockets.
Unfortunate stagnation
It is very unusual for a country to use its veto power. It is an unwritten rule to do it only in extreme cases, because the Union would be extremely difficult to govern if everyone vetoed it as soon as they were not happy with a decision.
To veto the fact that others demand that the statutes of the EU be respected and do not turn their country into a semi dictatorship is pure sabotage.
Most had assumed that neither country would take their veto threats seriously because the money would weigh more than the nose in the uprising of other member states. But there Macron, Merkel and the others made a mistake.
The stagnation that has occurred is regrettable in several ways.
Many countries, including those in southern Europe, are anxiously awaiting the crown’s support in trying to save their economies from the damaging effects of the pandemic.
One solution is for support to be separated from the EU budget and decided separately, then a unanimous yes from all 27 member states is not required.
But the problem with the EU budget still persists. Without a unanimous yes, the budget cannot come into force and a series of planned reforms will not take place. Instead, the old budget continues. A situation that nobody wants.
Refuses to back down
Positions seem blocked. Sweden. The Netherlands and several other states say they refuse to back down on the rule of law, while Hungary and Poland continue to wave their veto cards as long as the lawsuit holds up.
What speaks of a solution is that it is the master of compromises, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is sitting at the negotiating table because Germany is the president of the EU at the moment. She has toned down the rhetoric and says “we must talk to Hungary and Poland and figure this out.”
If there’s anyone who can untie the knot, it’s probably Merkel.
But the long-term problem with Hungary and Poland persists and must be solved somehow.
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