Monday

4th Dec 2023

Column

European values are non-negotiable

In Blindness, a famous novel by Portuguese writer José Saramago, a man waiting in his car at a traffic light suddenly becomes blind.

Later, inexplicably, the same happens to other inhabitants in the city. Soon public life gets completely disrupted. Law and order, healthcare, food supply - everything sinks into chaos and lawlessness.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

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

... or subscribe as a group

  • At the EU summit, Portuguese prime minister António Costa gave Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel a present: Blindness by José Saramago. With a message

No one in the city, Saramago wrote in this dark tale about the degeneration of civilisation, "knew from now on when the light turned red".

On 17 July, the first day of the marathon European Council on the multi-annual European budget and the corona recovery fund, Portuguese prime minister António Costa gave this Saramago novel as a birthday present to German chancellor Angela Merkel.

This was a highly symbolic present.

No one can lecture the Portuguese on the rule of law. Their country was a military dictatorship from 1926 to 1974.

Only after the 'Carnation' revolution in April 1974 was it allowed to become a member of the European Union: only democracies may join.

If there is one prime minister in Europe today who perceives the steady erosion of the rule of law in Hungary, Poland and some other EU countries like a personal slap in the face, it's probably Portuguese prime minister Costa.

Hungary and Poland are in the 'club'. They are safe. No one can kick them out. Their leaders make this very clear - assertively, cynically, turning every word inside out until it loses all meaning.

For Costa, the son of a journalist and a writer who was imprisoned three times for opposing the Salazar government in the 1950s, this must be a bitter experience.

Yet it was Costa who traveled through Europe and worked the phones last week, telling other European heads of state and government how stupid it is to link European subsidies from the EU budget and the recovery fund to the rule of law in recipient countries.

Northern European countries kept insisting on 'no democracy, no money'. Initially, this looked right. How can anyone who cares about European values ever be against this?

However, because of that link, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán immediately threatened to block the entire budget and the fund, worth about €1.8 trillion for the next seven years.

Costa was right: the link is stupid. And if anyone could say this, it was him. It's unfortunate that he only brought it up when Orbán started threatening to use his veto. Now it looks like Costa only challenged the link because he was afraid he wouldn't get his money from Brussels.

But Costa's central argument is important. He says we cannot and should not use European values, democracy and the rule of law as a bargaining chip in negotiations about money. Negotiations are about give and take.

If you use European values in this kind of horse-trading, you make them negotiable - which they shouldn't be, ever.

Values are not money

"If we negotiate about values and money," Costa wrote in the Portuguese newspaper Público last week, "we do not defend those values but monetise them instead. They become spare change."

This is why the European Council, in the end, kicked the can down the road. The European Commission will table a proposal later this year.

Many were dismayed. But in matters over which European leaders take unanimous decisions – meaning, each country has a veto - such as the EU budget, the consequence is that you put everything into the hands of those violating European values.

Strong conditionality would empower Orbán to shoot down Europe's entire multi-annual budget, without any improvement whatsoever in the rule of law in Hungary. This would be a win-win for Budapest.

All Costa did was trying to point out that the linkage is useless – not because the rule of law isn't worth defending but because the linkage rewards the perpetrators and paralyses the functioning of the EU.

"By doing this we would, out of naiveté or cynicism, repeat the process in which Orbán vetoed Frans Timmermans as president of the Commission last year," Costa argued.

So, is there nothing we can do?

Yes, there is.

First, this serves as yet another argument for the abolition of national vetos. It makes no sense that national leaders insist on keeping the veto and criticise the EU for being too weak to uphold the rule of law. The two issues are directly related. It is time they acknowledge this.

Second, until EU decision-making moves to (qualified) majority voting, the EU must rely on the one existing procedure dealing directly with the rule of law: Article 7 of the Treaty. If countries keep ignoring warnings from Brussels, cases based on Article 7 will eventually go to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Those procedures are, alas, annoyingly laborious and slow. But for now this limited tool is all we have, so we must make better use of it.

As we have seen in recent years political pressure from Brussels does not work: countries refuse to be lectured. Only the court can force them to stop violating the rule of law.

Hungary has often taken a step back just before cases come to court. Poland has been convicted twice. Twice, to avoid sanctions, it has overturned laws clipping the wings of independent judges.

Is this too bleak a prospect? Not necessarily.

In Blindness, Saramago's novel, there is one lady who keeps her eyesight. She, presumably, made Costa think of Merkel and her role in Europe. It is thanks to this lady that all the blind, at the end of the book, see the light again and start stopping for red lights – just like they used to.

Author bio

Caroline de Gruyter is a Europe correspondent and columnist for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. This article has been adapted from one of her columns for NRC.

Disclaimer

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

EU leaders agree corona recovery after epic summit

After gruelling five-day talks, EU leaders agreed on €390bn in grants and €360bn in low-interest loans to hardest-hit member states - after much opposition from the Dutch-led 'frugal' bloc of countries.

Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace

The optics of a nine-fold increase of annual funding for Israel, in the middle of its devastating military campaign in Gaza, stands in contrast with the attempted suspension, delaying and constraining of EU development aid for the Palestinians.

Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace

The optics of a nine-fold increase of annual funding for Israel, in the middle of its devastating military campaign in Gaza, stands in contrast with the attempted suspension, delaying and constraining of EU development aid for the Palestinians.

Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground

Discussion of the biggest existential threat humanity has ever faced is barely mentioned on billboards or signage in Dubai — yet visitors are made aware quite quickly that t world rugby sevens tournament is imminent.

Latest News

  1. The EU's U-turn on caged farm animals — explained
  2. EU-China summit and migration files in focus This WEEK
  3. COP28 debates climate finance amid inflated accounting 'mess'
  4. Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace
  5. Israel's EU ambassador: 'No clean way to do this operation'
  6. Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law
  7. Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground
  8. Germany moves to criminalise NGO search-and-rescue missions

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us