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An existential threat looms over the European Union, and EU leaders respond with a commitment
A commitment, which is probably due to your confidence that the threat will go away on its own. The kleptocratic regime of Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary and, to a lesser extent, the rule of the anti-liberal party. «Law and Justice ”in Poland blatantly defy the principles on which the European Union is based. If this challenge is seen as a legitimate political position that deserves recognition and a compromise solution, the risks now facing the EU will only get worse, and will be very serious.
I know and understand that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is working under tremendous pressure. He has been Chancellor of Germany for 15 years and is now nearing his retirement date in September 2021. Since French President Emmanuel Macron is temporarily distracted by laicité (“Secularism”) and other serious security problems in France, Merkel has become a kind of single decision-making body in the EU.
I also understand why the German Chancellor does not want another country, Hungary, to announce its intention to leave the EU while in power. That is to say, this is what Orban was supposedly preparing to do in recent days, because he cannot allow the magnitude of his regime’s corruption to be revealed, which will inevitably occur thanks to the new rule on the “rule of law” in the distribution of EU money.
During his decade in power, Orban stole and squandered huge sums of money, including EU funds, which were supposed to benefit the Hungarian people. He cannot afford to allow real restrictions on his personal and political corruption, because these illegal revenues are the lubricant that keeps the wheels of his regime turning and his entourage in check.
The threat to deprive the European Union of finances by vetoing the Union’s budget has turned into a desperately risky game on Orban’s part. But this was a hoax that had to be exposed. Unfortunately, Merkel seems to have succumbed to blackmail between Hungary and Poland.
I am writing these lines at a time when, apparently, Merkel has agreed to a compromise with Orban and the de facto leader of Poland, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. But the agreement that Germany has reached with the two violating countries of the EU is the worst peace possible. There are three fundamental flaws in the text of the proposed compromise, which has been made widely known through the leak and which will be included in the final declaration at this week’s European Council summit.
This arrangement, as it is known, is simply terrible
First of all, this statement changes the essence and meaning of the text of the regulation agreed by the EU institutions on November 5, significantly weakening the rule of law. Neither the European Commission nor the European Parliament, not to mention national governments, for whom the preservation of this rule has become one of the most important issues at the European Council meeting, should not be so rudely set aside. .
Second, the terms of this agreement imply a delay of up to two years in the implementation of the rule of law. This would be a real boon for Orban, because in this case, any possible action will not begin until the end of the next parliamentary elections in Hungary, scheduled for 2022.
Such a delay will give Orban’s party «Fidesz “long enough to change Hungarian constitutional laws and provisions, and will also allow Orban to continue to give new definitions to the concept.” «public funds “in Hungary, allowing it to redirect the loot from public institutions to «funds ”under the control of your friends. The main victims of the deal that Merkel may have struck with Orban will be the people of Hungary.
Finally, in this draft summit declaration, the European Council goes beyond its mandate, as it limits the ability of the European Commission to interpret and act on the basis of legislation passed by the EU. This is a dangerous precedent as it undermines the legal independence of the European Commission and, apparently, contradicts the Treaty on European Union, at least its spirit.
This agreement, as it is known, is simply terrible and violates the openly expressed will of the European Parliament. But faced with the urgent need to start using 750,000 million euros from the Covid-19 recovery fund, the European Parliament could well approve it.
All I can do is express the moral outrage that people who believed in the EU as a defender of European and universal values should now feel. And I also want to warn you that this commitment could seriously undermine the credibility that the EU institutions have so hard earned by creating an economic recovery fund.
HB has the exclusive right to translate and publish Project Syndicate texts. The reissue of columns is prohibited.
Copyright: Syndicate Project, 2020.
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