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Politico (5 November 2020)

By Lili Bayer And Maïa De La Baume

Lawmakers on Thursday hailed as “historic” an agreement to allow the EU to cut funding to governments that do not respect the rule of law — but questions remained over whether the scheme would be effective.

The bloc has struggled to address democratic backsliding in countries such as Hungary and Poland, with a string of lawsuits, reports and rule-of-law proceedings doing little to shape developments in Budapest and Warsaw. 

After years of debate, the European Parliament and the German presidency of the Council of the EU reached a preliminary agreement that would enable the EU to cut capitals’ funding if they renege on rule-of-law commitments in a way that threatens the Union’s financial interests.

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