EU’s New Weapon in Rule-of-Law Battle With Poland, Hungary: Money

BRUSSELS—The European Union has begun withholding resources from Poland and Hungary, escalating the struggle around democratic benchmarks that is deepening the East-West divide in the bloc.

The EU and most governments in its Western location are anxious about authorized changes by Poland and Hungary that they consider are eroding the rule of law, weakening judicial independence, and breaching human rights. They are significantly alarmed by an hard work by Warsaw to assert the primacy of Polish law around EU law and court docket decisions.

The two nations, which are amongst the biggest net recipients of European income, say the stress from Brussels signifies an ideological attack on their values and an attempt by unelected officials to curtail the rights of member countries to condition their have political methods and legislation.

The EU has had disputes for many years with Poland and Hungary around challenges these kinds of as homosexual rights, which are incredibly hot-button subjects in numerous previous communist countries. Conservative voters and politicians in the location have argued that due to the fact signing up for the bloc in 2004, Brussels has ever more utilized its powers to impose Western European social values around area norms.

The European Commission’s battle with Poland around judicial independence is different from these disputes. Brussels officials argue that Poland’s attempts to disregard EU court docket decisions and problem laws could established precedents that undermine bloc-vast rules—such as people governing the one market—and defang the supranational courts that police EU law.