29 March 2024

Friday, 12:10

CLASH OF TWO EUROPES

For the first time in history, the European Union may impose sanctions on member states

Author:

01.02.2018

“Slovaks do not deserve less fish in their fish fingers, Hungarians less meat in their meals, Czechs less cacao in their chocolate,” said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in his annual State of the Union speech.

Last year, the countries of Eastern Europe made a serious dust-up over the suspicions on tacit food inequality in the EU, claiming that the products of transnational companies were significantly lower in quality than those sold in the developed countries of the continent.

Despite the collapse of the socialist bloc twenty-five years ago, Eastern European residents of the EU still regard themselves as “second-class Europeans”, holding a grudge against the neighbouring states of Old Europe, which shut the labour market for them after admitting ten newcomers in 2004. That is when the definition of “second-class members” first appeared. In fact, it was possible to solve the issue easily. The fears that millions of cheap hands will lead to unemployment among local staff have proved in vain. It was necessary just to oblige employers to provide “newcomers” with the same social guarantees as local workers. Then there would be no temptation to hire, say, ten Polish workers instead of one German, as working conditions and the paid wages would be the same for all.

Admittedly, the years spent in the EU have generally benefited the economies of Eastern European countries. The lag behind the living standards was significantly reduced. In 1990, for instance, the average income in Poland was only the twelfth of the average income in Germany. In 2016, it was about a third. In the Czech Republic, economic growth rates are among the highest in Europe (5%), while the unemployment rate is the lowest (3%).

All countries that joined the EU in 2004 and later are subsidized. There are many programs to improve the living standards and competitiveness of weak economies. For example, during the first nine years of EU membership, Poland has received €101.3b of aid while Polish contribution to the joint budget (mandatory 1% of GDP) was only €33.3b. In the seven-year budget of the EU for 2014-2020, the amount of subsidies provided for Poland reach €105.8b. By the way, Poland is the sixth EU economy. Lithuania receives the largest amount of per capita financial support in the EU: the country has received €8.5b of financial assistance during the first nine years of her membership. Over the next seven years, Lithuania will receive another €6.82b.

European community periodically faces economic, social and political problems, which naturally affect the “newcomers” as well. All member states overcome these problems with varying degrees of success and often by joint efforts. However, the existing situation in Eastern Europe, where the country leaders gravitate toward autocratic rules of governance, has presented Brussels rather puzzling problems insolvable yet.

 

Total control

For the past two years, the Polish right-wing national-conservative party Law and Justice (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński has taken over the Constitutional Court, public and private media, implemented reforms that allowed the government to monitor the judicial system of the country, and carried out a number of other measures regarded as a violation of the principles of the rule of law.

According to polls, because of systematic suppression of dissent and restriction of freedoms, 58% of Polish residents prefer hiding their political views. In 1993, however, the situation was completely different: 60% of residents could freely express their opinion against 33%, who preferred not doing so in public.

Three former Polish presidents, Lech Wałęsa, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and Bronisław Komorowski, wrote an open letter, where they complain about the recent judicial reform, which can lead to the dictatorship of the ruling PiS party.

As a punishment for violations of the EU common rules, in December last year the European Commission initiated Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty that would strip Poland of its voting rights, including in the Council of Europe. In the future, this can result in more serious economic sanctions and even the exclusion of Poland from the EU. Of course, both sides do not want this. That is why Brussels gave Warsaw three months, until March 20, to implement its recommendations on restoration of the rule of law in Poland.

Hungarian president Viktor Orbán supports Polish prime minister in his confrontation with Brussels, saying that “the Inquisition attack against Poland can never succeed because Hungary will use all legal means in the EU to demonstrate solidarity with the Poles.”

The leaders of both countries has quickly found a common language. After all, most of the reforms currently gaining momentum in Poland have already been implemented in Hungary. Over the past seven years, Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance ruling since 2010 has controlled all the branches of power, including constitutional amendments to consolidate success. It is expected that Orbán’s party will succeed again during the general elections planned on April 8, 2018.

The second country, which the European Commission has recently demanded to bring its judiciary in line with international norms, is Romania, where the authorities are trying to limit the powers of the prosecutor's office and pass a number of bills that mitigate criminal punishment for corruption.

On January 18, Romania changed its prime minister for the third time in the last year. All of them were the members of the ruling Social-Democratic Party. The leader of the party and de-facto of the country, Liviu Dragnea, is also the chairman of the lower house of Romanian parliament. He may not lead the government, since he has a criminal record - two years’ probation for fraud during the referendum held in 2012. He is also under investigation in two other cases - abuse of office and illegal receipt of funds from European institutions.

 

Public inquiry

The infamous immigration crisis of 2014-2015 has become a catalyst for the growth of nationalist sentiments throughout Europe. Populist parties are getting increasingly popular in many countries of the continent, especially in Eastern Europe since there is no system of effective checks and balances such as independent state institutions so common in traditional democracies.

After twenty-five years, the European Union, where the former Eastern bloc countries once sought to enter, began to scare them with excessive globalism. Furthermore, the inferiority complex has not disappeared over the years still acting depressively on public consciousness in these countries. Even a high level of economic development, such as that of Czechia and Poland, did not help to get rid of this feeling. Hence a social demand for a “strong hand”, the authoritarian style of government.

Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Jarosław Kaczyński of Poland, and Andrej Babiš of Czechia could reflect the prevailing moods in respective countries, offering their citizens return to national values and traditions, which Brussels is allegedly trying to replace by its own.

The EU has also attempted to solve the acute migration crisis that peaked in 2015 in the same manner. In December 2017, the European Commission filed a lawsuit through the European Court against Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland for violating the terms of the agreement adopted two years ago, according to which all of them had to accept eleven thousand migrants. But in the end, the Czech Republic accepted only twelve migrants, while Warsaw and Budapest none.

Moreover, the authorities are fuelling xenophobic attitudes in these countries under the pretext of uniting the nation before an external threat.

Despite the vehement rhetoric against Brussels, none of the leaders of Eastern European countries even thinks about a partial break with the EU, which may turn to be catastrophic in terms of political and economic losses. On the other hand, the demonstrative negligence towards the EU recommendations cannot last forever. The deadline for Poland, for instance, is March 20. Sanctions will follow this date in case of a negative outcome.



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