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Partner Mateusz Morawiecki and Viktor Orbán: According to many experts, Poland and Hungary could no longer be accepted into the EU today
Photo:
FRANCOIS LENOIR / REUTERS
The compromise was not even a finalized deal, when Péter Szijjártó, Hungary's foreign minister, already started a triumphant tune: "We can declare a victory because we fought." He continued to triumph, and EU payments will not be made in the future either linked to "political or ideological prerequisites".
It sounds as if Hungary is not a member of the European Union, but is still a vassal in the Warsaw Pact, as if it is not a question of reaching an agreement with partners on a dispute, but of fending off a hegemon.
In Warsaw and Budapest, the governments celebrate themselves as conquerors of a danger that they themselves have created.
The rule of law is a vehicle of the left-liberal mainstream in Europe to force Muslim refugees and gay marriage on the good Catholic Poles and Hungarians - Orbán in particular had said this.
"We can declare a victory because we fought."
Péter Szijjártó, Hungary's Foreign Minister
In reality, however, it was never about that, but about a very simple principle: Anyone who wants money from Brussels cannot dismantle the rule of law at home by creating political bodies that control the courts, as in Poland.
Warsaw and Budapest show no guilt
In the interpretation of Viktor Orbán and Mateusz Morawiecki, the dispute over the budget veto has absolutely nothing to do with the rule of law.
The two show no sense of guilt, although they have created conditions in their countries that many experts believe would make it impossible for them to join the EU today.
They stylize the conflict around fundamental democratic principles, such as the separation of powers or the independence of the judiciary, into a culture war.
They actually always do that when someone does not agree: Then the other party, in this case the EU, does not have debatable arguments in store, but is actually riding an attack on the essence of Poland or Hungary.
This polemic is inherent in a deeply anti-democratic hierarchy of values: The national-ideological canon defined by PiS and Fidesz, i.e. Christianity, the traditional family with its clear role model for men and women, the unity of the "fatherland" - all of this ranks higher than basic democratic rules.
Measured against true national values, principles such as pluralism and the separation of powers are, in their eyes, a liberal luxury.
more on the subject
EU budget: And the loser is ... the rule of lawA comment by Markus Becker, Brussels
Icon: Spiegel PlusEU takes on Poland and Hungary: rushing and collecting - that's no longer possible by Markus Becker and Jan Puhl
Icon: Spiegel Plus Decline of democracy in Hungary and Poland: How the EU could still curb the autocratsBy Markus Becker, Peter Müller, Maximilian Popp and Severin Weiland
Icon: Spiegel Plus Call for help from Hungary: Europe must stop Viktor Orbán by Daniel Hegedüs
Eight Billion - The Foreign Podcast: Viktor the Stubborn A podcast by Juan Moreno
The EU, in person the German EU Council Presidency, picked up these people with a compromise.
Although it decided on the rule of law mechanism, it actually immediately suspended it until the European Court of Justice has ruled, which can take two years.
And then the hurdles are still high until the money tap can actually be turned off for a culprit.
Subsidies are not handouts
At this point the debate slips slightly into paternalism, some in the old EU countries feel justified in expressing their secretly cherished feelings of superiority over the EU Ossis out loud, tenor: We give them our tax money even though they do are not even good Democrats.
Why doesn't anyone throw them out?
The British at least had the decency to leave on their own.
But it is not the case that "we" net payers, "them" over there in the East, give money out of sheer compassion or even shame about the Second World War.
The compromise of Thursday evening is not due to the long-suffering of the West, the excessive patience of the German presidency with the still immature eastern neighbors.
The compromise came about not only because the EU needs a budget and a Corona aid package, but also, or above all, because "we", the Germans in particular, benefit incredibly from the eastward expansion.
The opposition in Hungary is invisible and in Poland weak
Poland and Hungary are huge sales markets, they offer workers who are well trained and who still stand at the workbench for a fraction of the money that a Stuttgart mechatronics technician asks.
It is not uncommon for Budapest or Warsaw to provide funds from Brussels in the form of infrastructure subsidies, for example, and then to German investors.
The EU also owes its prosperity to the East.
And unfortunately this is the case even though the current governments in Warsaw and Budapest are trampling on EU principles.
The EU should have turned into a defensive democracy much earlier, with powerful courts and an effective sanctions regime.
Viktor Orbán never made a secret of his "illiberal" visions; he has been in power for ten years.
And it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon.
The opposition in Hungary is invisible and in Poland weak.
It looks like Fidesz and PiS can hold out at least long enough for the rule of law to finally take effect.
So if you're lucky, it'll still hit you.
Many in the EU will allow them to do so: they had not won allies for their course and also gambled away a lot of sympathy.
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