Saturday, December 30th., 2017
Migrant Quota Question Could Cause Schism
Between EU and Poland, Hungary
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AP Photo/ Szilard Koszticsak/MT
The
European Union’s deteriorating relationship with Hungary and Poland,
two member states that have increasingly expressed independent streaks
as their national politics move to the right, has sent tensions
spiraling upwards between Brussels, Warsaw and Budapest.
The
European Court of Justice (ECJ) is currently deliberating on an EU
allegation that Hungary and Poland violated the legality of a migrant
quota. "We are confident that the ECJ will confirm validation, then they
[Poland and Hungary] must abide by the decision," an EU source told
Reuters.
Hungary and Poland were two of the largest countries to join the EU in their significant 2004 expansion by 10 countries, most of them former Eastern Bloc states. The expansion was seen as a sign of the rising stock of the EU as well as a major victory for West-leaning groups in Poland, who had been pushing for membership in the EU and NATO since 1989.
The European Commission has previously accused Orban of conducting an "assault on political freedoms" before the ECJ.
Poland has also come to be dominated by a right-wing party, the nationalist, populist and Eurosceptic Law and Justice Party. Like Fidesz, the Law and Justice Party controls both houses of the Polish legislature as well as the presidency through Andrzej Duda, who won his office in 2015.
In response, the EU triggered Article 7 for the first time ever. The
article is the process by which the EU identifies whether or not its
member states are playing by the rules they agreed to when they joined
the EU. First, an investigation of the alleged breach will be conducted,
then the nation's government must answer to the European Council
to defend their actions, then finally the EC votes on whether or not
to suspend the rights of the offending country.
While it seems unlikely that Poland will lose any rights since that requires a unanimous vote of condemnation from all member states, the issue may further drive a wedge between veteran EU states in Western and Northern Europe and their newer Eastern European counterparts.
"If they don't, then they will face
consequences, both financial and political. No more opt-outs, there is
no more ‘one foot in and one foot out.' We are going to be very tough
on this."
The EU has frequently criticized both nations for their weak
responses to the ongoing refugee crisis that has seen around 2 million
refugees — mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan — enter
Europe since 2014. The two nations, along with the Czech Republic and
Slovakia, are members the "Visegrad 4," all of whom refused to support a
quota system of refugee resettlement in 2015.
Hungary and Poland were two of the largest countries to join the EU in their significant 2004 expansion by 10 countries, most of them former Eastern Bloc states. The expansion was seen as a sign of the rising stock of the EU as well as a major victory for West-leaning groups in Poland, who had been pushing for membership in the EU and NATO since 1989.
But much has changed since 2004. Since 2010,
Hungarian national politics have been dominated by Prime Minister Viktor
Orban and his conservative, populist and nationalist Fidesz party.
While Orban has received significant criticism abroad for his alleged
anti-democratic reforms, he is quite popular in his own country,
with Fidesz holding 114 of the 199 seats in the Hungarian National
Assembly.
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REUTERS/ Matt Dunham
Poland has also come to be dominated by a right-wing party, the nationalist, populist and Eurosceptic Law and Justice Party. Like Fidesz, the Law and Justice Party controls both houses of the Polish legislature as well as the presidency through Andrzej Duda, who won his office in 2015.
Law and Justice has clashed multiple times
with Poland's national judiciary, the Constitutional Tribune. On
December 22, Duda signed a bill reducing the retirement age for judges,
which will create openings in as many as 40 percent of judicial seats —
allowing Law and Justice to fill those seats with sympathetic
conservative judges.
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AFP 2017/ GEORGES GOBET
While it seems unlikely that Poland will lose any rights since that requires a unanimous vote of condemnation from all member states, the issue may further drive a wedge between veteran EU states in Western and Northern Europe and their newer Eastern European counterparts.
Poland and Hungary are two of the largest net
recipients of EU funds, with Poland receiving over $13.5 billion more
in EU funds than they paid in 2014. Net contributor states like Germany
(who paid $9 billion more than they received that same year) have
increasingly pushed for a change in EU policy to match contributed funds
to reciprocated funds.