EU hit by new crisis, this time over money and values
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The European Union still hasn't completely sorted out its messy post-divorce relationship with Britain — but it has already been plunged into another major crisis.
This time the 27-member union is being tested as Poland and Hungary block passage of its budget for the next seven years and an ambitious package aimed at rescuing economies ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
Their objection? A new “rule-of-law mechanism” that would allow the bloc to deny funds to countries that violate democratic norms — something that both Poland and Hungary have been accused of doing for years.
Ahead of Thursday's virtual EU summit, where leaders hope to end the stalemate, here is a look at the budget battle.
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HOW MUCH IS AT STAKE?
The proposed 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget covers the period from 2021 to 2027, including 750 billion euros ($887 billion) in emergency funding to help the continent recover economically from the blow dealt by the pandemic.
The budget is meant to take effect on Jan. 1, and officials are desperate to have the agreement approved within weeks so money can flow fast.
Guy Verhofstadt, a member of European Parliament and a former Belgian prime minister, accused the Hungarian and Polish leaders of putting at risk lives and livelihoods threatened by COVID-19, “only because they want the EU to continue to fund their increasingly corrupt power grab.”
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WHAT TRIGGERED THE DISPUTE?
The governments of Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland have for years been accused of eroding the rule of law, by weakening democratic institutions like an independent judiciary and a free press.
Both Poland and Hungary are ex-communist nations that were hailed as models of democratic...
