They are getting rid of the free press and an independent justice system while systematically curtailing civil rights. But Poland and Hungary are taking quite another path altogether: Their governments are on the way to becoming autocratic regimes. Why do we have to put up with someone like Orban, with his lying propaganda, insults and anti-Semitic attacks? He and the ever more autocratic Polish government have taken the European Union to its political limits.Īlmost every country has problems in the transitional phase to democracy corruption tends to be widespread, and the fight for an independent judiciary takes time to win. The sole method of constraining them is to take away their EU subsidies.
The European Court of Justice has handed down a series of verdicts against both governments, but they are simply ignored. It was always clear that the only way to make any impression on Orban and his kindred spirits in Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party was to hit them in their pocketbooks. With their veto threats, the autocrats in Hungary and Poland succeeded in putting a brake to the Rule of Law mechanism, which will continue to guarantee their impunity. For many years, the citizens of other EU member states had wondered why their taxes should be used to finance the corrupt clique surrounding Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban.īut even the governments of EU member states that had pushed for the Rule of Law Mechanism have now voted for the compromise because, without the budget, the European Union would have been unable to take the action needed during the coronavirus pandemic. In summer, the Netherlands and other member states had agreed to take on joint debt to finance the coronavirus fund under the condition that governments such as those in Hungary and Poland could no longer use the European Union as a self-service store.