Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Opinion

Why German presidency is wrong on rule of law

  • Viktor Orban and other would-be kleptocrats must be rubbing their hands in anticipation of all the new funds (Photo: Council of the European Union)

Early next year, all going well, Brussels will turn on the taps and €750bn in funds designed to help Europe's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will start to flow into every corner of the EU.

Together with over a trillion euros that has been earmarked for the EU's seven-year budget, this money will shore up temporary work schemes, help construct critical health infrastructure and boost medical and vaccine research.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

These funds are badly needed, but sadly history teaches us that they are sometimes badly spent.

Mismanagement, waste, fraud and corruption siphon funds away from where they are most needed and into the pockets of grafting businessmen and politicians, frequently working hand in glove.

That is the reality of corruption in large parts of Europe today.

It is not simply a matter of a few bad apples or a handful of rogue politicians, but systematic links between politics and business that aim to divert public funds to enrich individuals and entrench power in too many member-states.

Transparency International's most recent assessment of public sector corruption scores six EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia - at 50 or below (out of 100) which indicates serious or endemic problems on the scale of those in as Argentina, Belarus and South Africa.

What binds such otherwise diverse countries together is the failure of their public institutions – notably the judiciary and law enforcement agencies – to get a grip on widespread corruption.

That is no accident of history, but a result of a deliberate policy of enfeeblement by political actors who resent independent checks on their power.

The hyper-partisan nature of contemporary politics as seen in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Romania, has accelerated this trend in recent years.

Hungary remains the stand-out case in the EU.

Over 10 years of unbroken rule, Fidesz has compulsorily retired judges and replaced them with hand-picked successors, while ensuring that the prosecutor-general, national judiciary and state audit offices are staffed with party faithful.

The effects are plain to see. In the most recent report of the EU Anti-Fraud Body Olaf, Hungary once again tops the charts in terms of number of investigations that recommend criminal prosecution and other actions.

A New York Times investigation last year uncovered how EU farm subsidies are diverted to enrich members of Viktor Orban's close family, including his son-in-law.

Hungary is the subject of an ongoing special 'non-compliance' review by the Council of Europe's anti-corruption watchdog over its failure to address key recommendations that protect public prosecutors and judges from political interference. Unsurprisingly then, the Commission's rule of law report notes that "there has been no prosecution of high-level government officials in recent years".

All this was well understood by the European Commission two years ago, when it published its proposal to suspend EU funding if a country was found to have 'rule of law deficiencies'.

It understood that you cannot protect the EU budget in a country where the judiciary is rigged, the police are pliant, and the biggest threat to the integrity of the funds is unchecked executive power.

Teutonic climbdown

Sadly, two weeks ago, EU member states led by the German presidency, have decided that this is over-reach on the part of the commission. They only want to trigger suspensions of funds where clear evidence of systemic corruption emerges, such as final convictions in a court of law.

And yet the whole point of systemic state-sponsored corruption is precisely to prevent such cases ever reaching court. The changes to the proposal made by the German Presidency, perhaps based on an understanding of how corruption happens in a German context, will render the whole instrument toothless for any purposes.

Viktor Orban and other would-be kleptocrats must be rubbing their hands in anticipation of all the new funds.

The only thing between standing between this bad proposal and a useless law is the European Parliament's resistance in the negotiations that are taking place the next few weeks.

MEPs' assent is necessary and so far they are holding firm in defending the need for clear rule of law safeguards and the ability to use this instrument quickly and without too many hurdles. In doing so, the parliament is staying true to its role of defending the interests of EU citizens, in this case our collective interest in seeing our taxes well-spent.

It is strange to see the German government and its allies in council argue for the contrary position, one that lets serial abusers of EU funds off the hook.

They should forge a common position with the parliament and rally around the commission's original proposal.

Author bio

Carl Dolan is head of advocacy at the Open Society European Policy Institute

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Massive MEP majority for better rule-of-law mechanism

A large majority of MEPs back an initiative to streamline the EU's tools on protecting rule of law and democracy and have effective sanctions. They also backed a tough stance on the rule of law conditionality in budget talks.

Rule-of-law deal: major step for Europe of values

At the very moment when an incumbent president across the Atlantic was carrying out staggering attacks on the foundations of democracy, the European Parliament obtained a historic agreement to protect the rule of law in Europe.

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Column

EU's Gaza policy: boon for dictators, bad for democrats

While they woo dictators and autocrats, EU policymakers are becoming ever more estranged from the world's democrats. The real tragedy is the erosion of one of Europe's key assets: its huge reserves of soft power, writes Shada Islam.

Latest News

  1. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  2. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  3. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  4. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  5. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  6. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  7. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating
  8. Syrian mayor in Germany speaks out against AfD

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us