Dealing with Europe’s Autocrats
It’s Time to Cut Funding for Orbán
A DER
SPIEGEL Editorial By Ralf Neukirch
Hungarian
President Viktor Orbán and other like-minded populists are trampling on the
EU’s values with growing disregard. Europe has an effective option for taking
action and it is time to use it: We need to cut Hungary’s EU funds.
12.07.2021, 14.03 Uhr
Hungary's
populist leader Viktor Orbán: He must be feeling very safe these days.
Last week,
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán published a full-page advertisement in
Bild, the mass-circulation German daily, and a number of European newspapers,
in which he set out his views on the European Union. In it, we learn that he
rejects a European empire, that he wants to protect "the European people”
from migration and pandemics and that he thinks nothing of the European
Parliament.
Orbán has
chained up the press and restricted freedom in his country. He vilifies the
LGBTQ community and has made friends and family members rich with money from
Brussels. Nevertheless, he must feel very safe publicly mocking the EU.
Why
shouldn’t he? The dismantling of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary has
been sharply criticized by its European partners and the EU institutions in
Brussels. So far, though, Orbán hasn’t had to fear any consequences – at least
not any that would truly hurt. When Orbán ignores a ruling of the European
Court of Justice, the European Commission doesn’t even apply to institute
punitive damages. Countries like Poland, where the ruling PiS party has largely
brought the judiciary under its control, can also expect leniency.
And there
are good reasons for the EU not to interfere too much in the politics of its
members states, whose governments were, after all, democratically elected. If
Poland doesn’t want to take in Syrian refugees, then that is regrettable on
humanitarian grounds, but not sufficient cause for punishment.
On the long
term, however, what is happening in Hungary and Poland will destroy the
foundations of the EU. Politicians often use the term "community of
values” lightly, but in the case of the European Union, its use is justified. A
community whose members yield some of their power for the whole to function as
a unit cannot exist without shared beliefs. Those who do not share European
ideas of democracy, rule of law and the protection of minorities also have no
business benefitting from the EU.
Brussels
long had no effective means of sanctioning Orbán’s nepotism and autocratic
tendencies. But the European Rule of Law Mechanism has been in place since last
fall. It can be used to hit the governments in question where it hurts:
funding.
So far,
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has not resorted to using
the new instrument. She is first awaiting a decision from the European Court of
Justice, where Poland and Hungary have sued against the rule of law mechanism.
The leaders of the 27 EU member states agreed to this process to obtain the
consent of both countries. Von der Leyen also agreed on that.
Those who do not share European ideas of democracy,
rule of law and the protection of minorities also have no business benefitting
from the EU.
But that
agreement is not legally binding. Yes, it’s true that anyone who flouts
political agreements is committing a breach of trust. In that sense, von der
Leyen’s hesitation is understandable. Despite this, it is wrong.
Orbán
himself doesn’t feel bound by any agreement. The Hungarian law that classifies
homosexuality alongside child abuse, for instance, is a provocation against
Europe. The EU has to obey the law, of course, but it doesn’t have to put up
with a dangerous bully.
Hungary will
elect a new parliament early next year, and the EU cannot allow a leader who
undermines the European Union to pay for his campaign using taxpayer money from
Europe. Such leniency also has a corrosive effect on the EU as a whole.
When von
der Leyen visited Slovenia last week, Prime Minister Janez Janša showed her a
photo of purportedly communist judges he claims his country’s judicial system
is riddled with. The Commission president felt compelled to recall the norms of
the rule of law, such as an independent judiciary. The Commission, the EU’s
executive body, had just approved billions of euros in coronavirus aid to
Slovenia.
Now, the
pressure from the European Parliament and the public is starting to have an
effect. Von der Leyen did not approve the release of money from the coronavirus
bailout fund that Hungary requested. The country has first been ordered to
outline how it will prevent the money from disappearing into the pockets of
Orbán's cronies. That’s a good signal, but it remains to be seen how far the
Commission president will ultimately go. If Orbán gets away with a few cosmetic
changes, he will triumph again.
Von der
Leyen said on Wednesday that she plans to apply the rule of law mechanism this
autumn. Better late than never. But acting immediately would be better. Enough
damage has already been done in the past few years.
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