Over the years, the European Union (EU) has endured several crises prompted by European debt, mass migration, and most recently, Brexit. However, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic threatens to be the most destructive to the bloc, as it not only exposes the deep fractures within the union, but also threatens to divert EU attention from internal challenges that are seriously undermining its values and power.
Concerns about the rule of law and the state of democracy in certain EU member states have been looming for some time now. With a rise in populist governments that enjoy a fair amount of public support, countries like Hungary and Poland have not been shy about bulldozing the independence of state institutions capable of enforcing checks and balances.
Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, since taking office in 2010, has repeatedly called for the development of an “illiberal democracy” characterized by a blatant disregard for human rights, press freedoms, and civil society, alongside a strong focus on national sovereignty and homogeneity. In Poland, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has also been flagrant in either dismantling or seizing control of all judicial systems that could check its power, and the recent adoption of the “muzzle law”, which enables the Polish leadership to penalize judges who criticize the government's judicial reforms, has only furthered democratic destruction in the country.
Despite this, the EU’s response to these deviations up until now has been quite mild. It was only last year that the European People’s Party (EPP) suspended Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party over rule of law violations; there has been no follow-up since then because the bloc remains divided on how to move forward. The European Commission launched a formal investigation against Poland over similar concerns back in 2016, however, it has not yielded any significant results. Just yesterday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic breached their obligations under EU law by refusing to take in their share of asylum seekers who had arrived in Italy and Greece, under a relocation program agreed upon by the European Council in 2015. The consequences of this ruling, though, remain to be seen.
What is concerning is that the all-consuming nature of the COVID-19 outbreak is bound to take up all of the bloc’s attention. In fact, Hungary and Poland have already pounced on the EU's diverted focus to freely pursue their own political interests. On March 30, 2020, the Hungarian parliament passed an emergency law granting PM Viktor Orbán’s government the power to rule by decree for an unlimited amount of time. Though justified by Hungarian officials as a necessary measure to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the legislation goes well beyond the emergency statutes passed by other countries during this crisis, and essentially gives Orbán free reign to do as he pleases without any oversight, for as long as the crisis lasts. This includes the suspension of all elections, and the power to imprison any media personnel guilty of supposedly disseminating false information.
Orbán's government announced that “all powers will be fully restored” at the end of the emergency, but given his hardline rhetoric and praise for autocracies, it will not be surprising if he finds ways to keep this power and use it to dismantle democracy in the country. The move prompted a statement from 13 EU member states, calling for coronavirus emergency measures “to be temporary and in line with rule of law principles”.
Meanwhile in Poland, the ruling PiS party, in a bid to maintain its lead in the upcoming presidential elections in May, unconstitutionally made changes to the electoral code last weekend, despite calls from opposition parties to postpone elections due to coronavirus concerns.
In both cases, however, citizens seem satisfied with the leadership. Therefore, without any EU intervention, any change in either government’s attitudes is perhaps only possible if the countries experience a severe outbreak, which would increase pressure from their populations. However, unlimited powers vested in the government–especially in the case of Hungary–could be used to quell any kind of dissent in the country.
Regardless, such outward infringements of democracy should ideally compel the European Union to take more serious action as its founding values–freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and respect for human dignity and rights–come under attack. However, there are serious challenges that it faces while doing so. Firstly, the bloc’s existing mechanisms to deal with such breaches are flawed. Article 7, which was designed to respond to violations of EU principles, requires the support of four-fifths of the Council and the consent of the Parliament in order to enforce the preventative measure, which addresses the clear risk of a breach. Meanwhile, its sanctioning measure requires unanimous agreement amongst all member states (minus the state concerned). Such requirements have proven to be significant roadblocks for any kind of implementation, thereby essentially rendering the article useless.
It is also important to note that the decline in respect for the rule of law is not just limited to these two countries. Although Warsaw and Budapest have been uniquely brazen in their attempts to undermine liberal democracy, there is evidence to suggest that this is an EU-wide issue. The World Justice Project’s annual Rule of Law Index, and the World Bank’s Governance Indicators show weaker adherence to the rule of law in countries like Italy, France, Romania, Greece and Croatia, among others. The United Kingdom under Boris Johnson has also seen its tensions with this issue, with the PM clashing with the Supreme Court after it ruled that his decision to suspend Parliament in the run-up to Brexit was unlawful. The EU will have to recognize this worrying trend of democratic backsliding, to be able to take a more structured and comprehensive approach to tackling it.
Compounding these challenges is the harsh reality that the communitarian spirit of the EU has dwindled significantly over the years, and the coronavirus pandemic is both revealing and exacerbating the rifts within the bloc. The failure of EU member states to show solidarity became glaringly apparent when they were unable to respond to Italy’s calls for extra supplies of medical equipment, including masks, during the early phase of the crisis. After Germany and France imposed limits on the export of protective medical equipment, it was China and Russia who sent medical supplies to Italy. While European leaders have come together to plan a response to the public health crisis, there unfortunately remains no consensus on how to protect European economies from the economic fallout of this pandemic.
Given this state of affairs, the road ahead will most definitely be an arduous one. The EU will have to step up to defend its values more effectively. Of course, like everything else in international politics, nothing will be possible without a united political will to both address the institutional weaknesses within the EU and to find ways to encourage compliance of member states with EU principles. Experts warn that the failure to do so could pose existential threats to the bloc. Countries like Hungary and Poland have overtly exploited these challenges to abandon core democratic principles, and are using the coronavirus crisis as a smokescreen to cover their abuses of power, fundamentally undermining the integrity of the EU. Now the question is whether the EU will stir into action and do something about it.
Image Source: FT
