Poland, Hungary Backslide On Corruption, Media Freedom

In a recent audit, the European Union found that Hungary isn't doing enough to stop corruption, while Poland is forging ahead with judicial takeovers and stifling media freedom.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has frustrated any EU attempt to enforce the rule of law in the country that is reported to have massive corruption in bloc subsidies for the agricultural sector.

And Poland, the report found, also is deficient in its national justice system, anti-corruption efforts and lacking checks and balances. The assessments were included in a review that found democracy being eroded in the 27-member bloc.

"It is relevant to have an overview of these issues, and see the links between them. Not least because deficiencies often merge into an undrinkable cocktail," EU Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova told journalists.

The report from the European Commission came after agreement on an 1.8 trillion euro ($2.11 trillion) recovery package for the 2021-2027 budget period. The package comes without a distribution plan, as Hungary and Poland are blocking efforts to tie the money to meeting rule of law standards.

In 2019, the think tank Freedom House downgraded its assessment of Hungary to “partly free” due to “sustained attacks on the country’s democratic institutions,” Politico reported.

Over the past decade, the watchdog added, Orbán’s Fidesz party “has used its parliamentary supermajority to impose restrictions on or assert control over the opposition, the media, religious groups, academia, NGOs, the courts, asylum seekers, and the private sector,” the think tank reported.

The EU has accused the two countries of violating rule-of-law standards for years and is trying to pursue sanctions, while the countries threaten to use their veto rights to block issues requiring unanimous consent in return.

Hungary said the EU audit was biased and wouldn't accept the findings, calling the Rule of Law report “not only fallacious but absurd,” as well as “unbalanced” and “unfounded” without offering specific rebuttals.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had no response while lawmaker Kamila Gasiuk-Pichowicz, from Poland's liberal opposition The Civic Coalition criticized the government.

"It is the current ruling team that is rated so low in the report and it's Law and Justice (party) that is responsible for all the problems that the European Commission is referring to now," she said.

The EU report cited Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Spain for threats against journalists, and threats, attacks and smear campaigns against journalists were also reported in Hungary. Bulgaria also was cited for a lack of judicial independence and an inability to tackle corruption cases properly, the AP said.

Poland's right-wing government has been trying to take control of the justice system with only muted criticism from the EU.

In Hungary, government-sponsored laws targeting media freedoms, minority rights, the electoral system and academic and religious freedoms were called out along with a "consistent lack of determined action to start criminal investigations and prosecute corruption cases involving high-level officials or their immediate circle."

In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Jourova said the report highlighted an "alarming" picture, and accused Orban of "building a sick democracy,” but offered no remedies.

Still, an angry Orban said she humiliated Hungary and asked for her resignation, but EU officials so far are standing by her.

"As I grew up in communist Czechoslovakia, I know how it feels to live in country without the rule of law," Jourova said. "The European Union was created also as an antidote to those authoritarian tendencies,” she said.