Poland and Hungary push back against EU budget conditionality

[Peter1469]

Poland and Hungary push back against EU budget conditionality

The EU was never about democracy. It is an authoritarian institution. Now they want to be able to alter allocated funds to member nations based on whether those nations bow to EU's will satisfactorily.

Poland's EU affairs minister accused the European Commission of a "massive power grab" over the executive's plans to link some funds to respect for the rule of law - highlighting the concerns of those countries that feel targeted by the proposal.

EU affairs ministers on Monday (14 May) had their first chance to discuss the commission's proposal for the next seven-year EU budget, which for the first time involves the idea of tying the disbursement of EU funds to member states' record on upholding the rule of law.


The debate revealed deep divisions, just as the EU gears up for an uncertain period with the US becoming an unpredictable partner, and China developing into a more assertive global player.


Poland, which is under scrutiny by the commission for breaking EU rules on the independence of the judiciary, and Hungary which has had its own run-in with the EU executive, both feel particularly targeted by the commission's proposal.


Poland's minister Konrad Szymanski pushed back hard on the proposal saying it is an attempt to override legally binding rulings from the European Court of Justice (ECJ).


"The proposal seems like a massive power grab with too high a discretion in the commission's hand," Szymanski told the other ministers.


"We are ready to support all the instruments to better control EU money, but we need something more intelligent and treaty-based," he added.


Hungary's ambassador for the EU, Oliver Varhelyi, filling in for the minister, backed up Poland's position.


"One would have to be very careful when introducing such an instrument, one has to follow the law verbatim here," he said, adding that there are serious concerns with the proposal's legal base and the criteria's for the measure are vague.



The so-called 'conditionality' instrument would be triggered if the commission detects "generalised deficiencies" in the functioning of a member states' judiciary that impacts on the the proper use of EU funds.

Read the rest at the link.

[MMC]

The EU will ignore them. Although, Italy can use this with their uhm disagreements with the EU.

[Peter1469]

The EU will ignore them. Although, Italy can use this with their uhm disagreements with the EU.

The entire point of this proposed rule by the EU is to not ignore Poland and Hungary, but rather push them for not taking in "their share" of migrants and some other issues the EU disapproves of.

[Mister D]

A European union must be based on a common heritage not banking and a common market. Those are ancillary.

[Peter1469]

A European union must be based on a common heritage not banking and a common market. Those are ancillary.

I think the EU should be limited to a common market.

[Mister D]

I think the EU should be limited to a common market.

It was founded on a common market and the foundation remains economic but economics is no foundation for unity. Europe should be federalized. It's precisely through economic threats that the bureaucrats in Brussels exercise their power. The problem Europe has is similar to our own: we are forced to adhere to values we no longer have any role in forming.

[Peter1469]

It was founded on a common market and the foundation remains economic but economics is no foundation for unity. Europe should be federalized. It's precisely through economic threats that the bureaucrats in Brussels exercise their power. The problem Europe has is similar to our own: we are forced to adhere to values we no longer have any role in forming.

The nations that make up the EU have too many differences to federalize. And the current EU is hardly democratic. It is authoritarian.

[Mister D]

The nations that make up the EU have too many differences to federalize. And the current EU is hardly democratic. It is authoritarian.

I don't think they have too many differences to federalize. The greater part of Europe was federalized for almost a millennium. Nation states are on their way out. They are obsolete.

Of course the E.U. is authoritarian. That's what we're talking about. It's also an economic union first and foremost.

[Mister D]

Peter, your OP is a case in point.

[Peter1469]

There are vast disparities between Northern, Southern, and Eastern Europe.

I don't think they have too many differences to federalize. The greater part of Europe was federalized for almost a millennium. Nation states are on their way out. They are obsolete.

Of course the E.U. is authoritarian. That's what we're talking about. It's also an economic union first and foremost.

I guess that is why Hungary and other Eastern EU nations think they can tell the EU to go to hell when told to accept hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern and North African migrants.