The costs of Merkel s surrender to Hungarian and Polish extortion – European Council on Foreign Relations ecfr.eu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ecfr.eu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Danger of a Budget Compromise
An Interpretative Declaration Suggests No Political Will to Resist Backsliders
10 December 2020
This week’s suggested compromise on the long-term EU budget and rule of law conditionality indicates that the EU institutions are still not ready to defend their core principles and values.
Christmas came early this year not only for the European Union but for backsliding regimes as well. Once again, the EU has made concessions for autocratic minded leaders to overcome a deadlock, this time on the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) after Poland and Hungary aggressively pushed a veto for the last couple of weeks. The EU cooked up an interpretative declaration, indicating a clarification about the rule of law mechanism’s implementation, to soothe the rebels.