, Columnist
The European Union Should Be Able to Kick Out Hungary
When does any club have the right to expel a member, if not in this case?
No longer welcome.
Photographer: Olivier Matthys/AFP via Getty Images
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Tempers were flaring at a recent summit of the European Union when Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, looked straight at Viktor Orban, his Hungarian counterpart, and said what everybody was thinking: If you don’t share our values, you should take Hungary out of the EU.
Rutte’s unsubtle nudge to make a member state exit the club was also a reminder about one of the EU’s biggest design flaws. It has no mechanism to expel countries. This raises the question: When exactly should a bloc, club or organization be able to throw members out?