Calls for conditionality in the EU budget
Calls for conditionality in the EU budget. Increasing tensions between the
EU and some of its member countries, most prominently Poland and
Hungary, about lacking compliance with the EU’s judicial standards have
also found their way into the budget debate.
This is reflected in
considerations within the Commission to make future access to EU funds
conditional on compliance with rule or law (or reward compliance through an
incentive system), supported e.g. By Germany, Sweden and the
Netherlands. These countries also favour the idea of linking payments from
the EU budget to the implementation of structural reforms and follow the
EU’s recommendations for economic policy. Angela Merkel’s proposal last
week to link budget payments to migration policy has been met by strong
opposition among EU’s eastern members but also by criticism from Austria
and Luxembourg.
This illustrates how calls for conditionality could contribute
to a poisoned and prolonged procedure while also bearing the risk of
(further) fragmentation within the EU, particularly along a North-South, East-
West divide.
EU Forecast
euf:ba18h:161/nws-01