The European Union will deploy a new financial weapon next week to try to rein in what Brussels sees as illiberal nationalism rising in the east of the bloc and threatening its democratic foundations. A big electoral triumph on April 8 for Victor Orban in Hungary and a battle to save the independence of courts in Poland have sounded alarm bells about the Union’s future when Britain leaves next year. President Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission, backed by Germany, France and the EU’s other wealthy paymasters, unveiled proposals as part of the 2021-2027 budget that will tie funding, on which poorer eastern countries rely, to respect for the rule of law. Read more here.
Source: Reuters