The EU Must Stand Up to Hungary and Poland on Rule of Law
The European Union’s coronavirus stimulus package is crucial for the bloc’s recovery. But giving in to blackmail by populists isn’t an option.
EU summitry was hard enough already.
Photographer: Olivier Hoslet/AFP via Getty Images
It’s come to this. Two rogue states, Hungary and Poland, are now in effect holding the entire 27-nation European Union for ransom: Either the bloc drops a mechanism that would tie some of its funds to the rule of law, which Budapest and Warsaw are accused of dismantling, or the EU can say goodbye to its next seven-year budget and an associated stimulus program to overcome the coronavirus recession.
By threatening to veto that deal, Hungary and Poland are basically demanding that the EU strike a Faustian bargain so they can keep playing their populist politics at home. Their success in this ploy would doom the bloc to slowly forfeiting its democratic soul. That’s why the 25 other member states, currently led by Germany, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, should stand together and stay firm when leaders hold a video conference to discuss the matter today.