The EU, like the rest of the world, is facing a massive medical and economic emergency. Yet, the Union has, so far, been unable to make use of a projected €1.1 trillion budget and a €750 billion recovery fund to fight the pandemic and help businesses recover from the most significant economic shock in recent history.
An end to the political inertia now seems to be in sight. The European Parliament and a negotiating team representing the European Council have agreed to link the bloc’s long-term budget to a mechanism requiring countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to uphold Europe’s democratic rules and values.
The end of this deadlock would indeed be a welcome development.
Europe needs to start rebuilding parts of its economy that have not only been damaged by COVID but were showing signs of terminal decline even before the pandemic emerged.
Malta stands to benefit substantially from the allocation of both the budget funds and the recovery fund.
The European Parliament has limited powers. But one of these powers is its prerogative to approve the EU budget. In the last few months, MEPs had signalled their concern about the disconnect between the respect of the rule of law and the allocation of funds to member states. Hungry and Poland are mired in EU proceedings over concerns that the right-wing populist governments are violating standards linked to the respect of the rule of law.
Last October, MEP Manfred Weber argued that the linking of the distribution of EU funds to a country’s respect for the rule of law was a “red line” in negotiations to approve the bloc’s next budget and coronavirus recovery fund.
If the EU is to be more than a common market, it needs to promote democratic values. EU lawmaker Petri Sravamaa, who helped in the process that led to an in-principle agreement, said: “The agreement is a milestone for protecting EU values. For the first time, we have established a mechanism that enables the EU to stop funding governments that disrespect our values, such as the rule-of-law.”
The worth of the agreed mechanism will be measured by how quickly it can be implemented. No one should underestimate the difficulties of agreeing on detailed procedures to ensure that all member states respect this in-principle agreement. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already threatened to veto it.
These are challenging times for democracy. The rise of populism is by no means over. Many US and EU citizens have had their confidence in traditional politicians shattered as they feel that they no longer understand the challenges they face in their lives daily.
Decisions by the Council are almost always an exercise in bargaining where every member state tries to reap the best possible national benefits while conceding some sovereign rights for the sake of promoting a deeper union. This practice makes steps in European integration incremental when many would argue that the EU needs to make a giant leap forward if it is to become the most trusted leader of the free democratic world.
The agreement between the European Council and the European Parliament still needs to be approved formally by the bloc’s 27 member states and the full EU parliament.
Although, perhaps, not as immediately consequential, the accord came two days before the election of Joe Biden as the new president of the United States of America. It is significant that the European Union has lit its own beacon of light on this side of the Atlantic for the bolstering of democratic norms in this time of both economic and political crisis.