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world news Diahuebs 17 Februari 2022

EU can withhold funds from Hungary, Poland, top court rules

(AP) — In a ruling hailed Europe Minister Clement of judges – called the court’s
as a boost to democrat- Beaune told the EU legisla- move a turning point.
ic values, the European ture. “The rule of law is our
Union’s highest court said treasure.” “It is a gloomy date that will
Wednesday that the 27-na- be written in the history
tion bloc can suspend sup- The court decision was the books,” Ziobro said. “From
port payments to member last legal impediment to an area of freedom, the EU is
states if they breach rule EU institutions withhold- changing into an area where
of law principles. ing funds from any govern- it will be possible to use un-
ment they consider to be at lawful violence in order to
The right-wing govern- odds with core democratic take this freedom away from
ments of Hungary and Po- principles. The rule, seen as member states and limit their
land, which had challenged the EU’s most potent weap- sovereignty.”
the EU’s right to take such on to prevent a democratic
action, responded by arguing rift from deepening within Hungarian Justice Minister
that the rule lacked a proper the bloc, was approved 14 Judit Varga called the court reached with Wednesday’s The court argued however
legal basis and would funda- months ago, but the execu- ruling a “political judge- ruling. The reactions showed that democratic backsliding
mentally interfere with their tive European Commission ment” and proof that the EU how the democratic dis- had not only a political im-
running of national business. waited to apply it. was abusing its power. course in the EU is polariz- pact but also affected budget-
ing and splitting the bloc. ary matters.
Both nations, large recipients EU Commission President “The ruling is another appli-
of EU funds, have come un- Ursula von der Leyen prom- cation of pressure against our “This ruling is a milestone,” “The sound financial man-
der increasing criticism over ised to “act with determina- country because we passed Belgian Prime Minister Al- agement of the Union bud-
the past few years for veering tion,” and EU legislators im- our child protection law exander De Croo said. “It get and the financial interests
away from democratic norms mediately urged her to start during the summer,” Varga becomes ever more difficult of the Union may be serious-
with policies such as exert- enforcing the rule against wrote, referring to legisla- for member nations to say ly compromised by breaches
ing excessive control over the Poland and Hungary within tion approved last year which these (democratic) rights do of the principles of the rule of
judiciary, stifling media free- days, not months. Withhold- forbids children from media not entail obligations and law committed in a member
dom and denying the rights ing any funds could take until content that depicts homo- that they can be pushed aside state,” it said.
of LGBT people. the end of the year because of sexuality or gender changes. at will.”
institutional rules and a tor- Because of extended financial
When it comes to democratic tuous approval process that The EU’s passage of the rule Both Hungary and Poland say vetting not directly linked to
principles, “the European needs majority approval of of law funding mechanism the court was overstepping Wednesday’s ruling, Poland
Union must be able to de- member states. predates the Hungarian law, its authority in approving a has yet to receive some $41
fend those values, within the which many critics have de- new mechanism that is not billion euros from the EU’s
limits of its powers,” the Eu- The reaction from Hungary cried as a violation of LG- described in the EU’s own pandemic recovery fund,
ropean Court of Justice said and Poland was swift. Polish BTQ rights. treaties. They said making while Hungary’s $8 bil-
in Wednesday’s ruling. Justice Minister Zbigniew a link between finances and lion was also held up. Those
Ziobro – who is responsible European officials on the the legal decisions of national funds could now be further
“We have the legal authority for many of the changes seen other side of the debate also governments amounted to held back because of the rul-
that is necessary,” France’s as eroding the independence felt a tipping point had been blackmail from Brussels. ing.

Macron: Europe needs to defend its sovereignty in space

(AP) — Europe needs a bold- that Europe’s sovereignty is competitiveness. recent events had shown how
er space policy, French Presi- at stake if it falls behind rival crucial it is to be able to mon- Macron said Europe needs
dent Emmanuel Macron de- powers in a key field for tech- Speaking at a meeting in Tou- itor troop movements from to consider whether it wants
clared Wednesday, warning nology, science and military louse, France, Macron said orbit — a reference to satel- to pursue that path, and if so,
lite images showing Russia’s what the goal should be. One
mass military deployment option would be to follow the
near Ukraine that raise fears United States in aiming for
of an imminent invasion. Mars, while another would
be to focus on a replacement
“There is no full power or for the aging International
autonomy without managing Space Station.
space,” Macron said. “With-
out (it) you can’t conquer With hundreds of thousands
new frontiers or even control of jobs tied to the space in-
your own.” dustry, Macron warned that
Europe faces tough compe-
Europe has a strong record tition not just from major
when it comes to launching powers but also emerging ri-
satellites for telecommunica- vals such as India and private
tions, global positioning ser- companies like Blue Origin
vices and scientific research. and SpaceX.
But it has lagged behind rivals
such as the United States, “Unfortunately they’re not
Russia and China on human European, but they took a
spaceflight, having no ability bet,” he said, adding that
to launch crewed missions of the companies had benefited
its own. from significant public fund-
ing in the form of govern-
The head of the European ment-sponsored launches.
Space Agency last month Macron said Europe should
backed calls to develop its consider that option, too, for
own crewed spacecraft, al- its home-grown launchers
though member states have like the upcoming Ariane 6.
yet to approve.