After bringing down Hungary’s government, the European Parliament is moving to isolate and ‘regime change’ Slovakia. Yesterday, the European Parliament voted 418 to 207 for a document officially calling on the European Commission to launch a conditionality mechanism against Slovakia for the first time ever. This means that MEPs are calling for the freezing of EU funds for the government of Robert Fico, allegedly due to threats to the rule of law and the financial interests of the Union. EU democracy marches on.
The document’s main rapporteur, German MEP Daniel Freund (Greens), had announced a broad consensus across the European Parliament’s main political factions—the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists (S&D), the Liberals (Renew) and the Greens—behind the vote. Now the European Commission and the Member States must agree, which may take months, while the institution will continue to hope that Slovakia will make amends. However, the adoption of the Freund report means that the European Parliament will put pressure on the Commission to stop hesitating and take action. As Daniel Freund said earlier, the European Union has learned from its long-standing lethargy towards Hungary, and this time it wants to intervene before the rule of law is completely destroyed.
