EU's Budget Stick Fuels Rather Than Stops Populism, Czechs Warn
- Top Czech diplomat says EU funds can’t be tied to rule of law
- Petricek sees debate on euro needed to examine benefits
Andrej Babis in Brussels.
Photographer: Aris Oikonomou/AFP via Getty Images
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Threatening to punish European Union members financially for veering away from the bloc’s democratic norms is fueling support for populist political forces around the bloc instead of curbing them, the Czech Republic’s top diplomat said.
The EU’s executive is locked in battles with post-communist members including Hungary and Poland over what Brussels has denounced as democratic backsliding. With few remaining options to enforce norms, Germany’s ruling conservatives demanded last month that handouts from the EU’s trillion-euro budget be linked to whether members uphold standards on the rule of law.