The commonwealth has been facing various conflicts between the Member States, since the foundation of the European Union. Different participants had diverse views about their place in the future of the Union. Such countries such as the UK, France and Germany played a major role and were the core of democracy of Europe. However, after the enlargement in 2004 the EU has accepted 8 Eastern Europe countries. After this accession the European Commission noticed that governments of this enlargement such as Poland, Hungary and Romania raise conflicts more regularly than other Member States about the rule of law (Sedelmeier, 2014). This essay will estimate the reasons of disputes between Polish and Hungarian governments and the European Commission from the perspectives of the historical background of these countries, their ruling parties and the views of their leaders on the future of Europe.
First of all, historical background of countries always plays the major role in the attitude towards its neighbors and in the view on the world. Also it forms the culture of governing. Moreover, the government’s decisions are made with reflections on the past. In this respect Hungary and Poland are good examples of the countries which took damage from the decisions of the Great Powers. After the Great War in 1918 Austro-Hungarian Empire was demolished and Hungary became an independent country. Hungarian kingdom was week and struggled with diverse civil conflicts within the country. On the 20 of February in 1920 the country selected Miklos Horthy, as the regent, who made Hungary a fascist country and became an ally with the Nazi Germany before and during the Second World War. The culmination of this suffering was the establishment of communism in Hungary in 1945. It was a period of authoritarian regime, when the idea of democracy was burned by propaganda and terror. An example of movements to democracy is the Hungarian Revolution, which was quelled by the Soviet Army, 5000 innocent people were killed. After 50 year of such ruling, the culture of the authoritarian leading has entered all governmental systems. Currently, the environment in the government of Hungary has significantly changed to the democratic way. However, some authoritarian “habits” still can be noticed in the method of ruling in Hungary, such as laws which threaten the judicial independence or the security of personal data of the Hungarian citizens.
Another example of a country, which was separated by the powerful neighbors, is Poland. The Polish history of the 20th century is a story of courage and a countless number of victims. On the 29th of September in 1939 the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in Molotov-Ribbentrop pact agreed to divide Poland into two spheres of influence. This separation was against Poland’s will and its sovereignty. During the Second World War Poland was occupied by the Nazi Germany. In that time on the territory of Poland, Germany created six death camps and some districts of towns such as Krakow and Warsaw were converted into Jewish ghettos. After the defeat of the Nazi Germany in 1947, Poland conducted an election where the pro-communist party won by cheating. Throughout the following 42 years Poland was struggling with the communist regime, which occupied country and nationalized industries. The movements to democracy were cruelly prevented by the Soviet Armies. After such an extended period, of 2 generations, the new one is unable to properly understand the idea of democracy. Presently, the Republic of Poland occupies the 57 place in the Democracy Index. Nevertheless, the current situation in the Republic is not as bright as it seems. The European Commission has been conducting proceedings against Poland. There is a risk for the judicial system to become fully dependent on higher authorities which contradicts the TFEU. Psychologists Albarracin and Wyer, Jr (2016) in the article “The Cognitive Impact of Past Behavior: Influence on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Future Behavioral Decisions” state that past behavior of the patient directly effects on the attitude in the similar situation with accordance to the previous consequences. All these historical timelines show how Poland and Hungary suffered from the two authoritarian regimes which destroyed the culture of democracy for decades. In this respect the conflicts with the European Commission is a complex process of understanding the democracy. Moreover, the Commission is a useful tool for providing unbiased and justful opinion about action of the young democracies.
Secondly, a political system plays an important role in development of a country. The system is represented by parties which have seats in the parliament. In the case of Poland and Hungary in 2015 the government was under the leadership of right-wing populist parties. Populist parties are the political organizations which stand opposite to “the elite” and represent the idea of “the people”. Also, they reject the idea of globalization of the world and oppose the same-sex marriage and migration. In the Republic of Poland, polish citizens faced crisis of identity, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This crisis played the role of majordomo for the decision to follow the Euro path. However, in 2005, during the elections of the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski became the leader of the Polish nation. In the same year with his brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski the president formed a coalition between his party “Law and Justice” with the “Eurosceptic League of Polish Families and Self-Defense of Republic of Poland”. This coalition critically evaluated the idea of integration as the threat to the national dignity of Poland which created the wave of nationalism and populism. Such movements became more popular after the economic crisis in 2008, which increase unemployment level to 2.4% percent in 2012 (University of Lodz, 2013). In 2015, political events took place in Poland. The first victory was the populist “PiS” party in elections which provided them with the majority of seats in the polish parliament. The second event was the climax of the “PiS”. In December 2015, the polish government adopted the law of the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal. The main goal of such law is to disable judicial system as an independent institution and violate Article 2 of the TEU. This led to new crisis of the Rule of Law in Poland. According to Grzeszczak (2018), such fundamental change is vestiges of the Third Republic. Also, its war with the inside enemy which, essentially, means usurpation of the judicial institution by the state. Moreover, more conflicts with the European Community arose after the right-wing march. On the 11 of November, 2018, about 200.000 polish citizens participated in the state military parade in Warsaw, where people carried flares, flags and crimson smoke. Such demonstrations showed the raise of nationalism in Poland. It was clearly visible on the demonstration in 2019, where people were protesting against same-sex liberties, globalism and abortion (Zbytniewska, 2019). The Populist Party in Poland united people under the ideology of nationalism and exceptionalism, which contradict the idea of the United Europe as the multinational community.
In Hungary, the situation is dramatically worst. The populist “Fidesz” party of the Hungarian leader Victor Orban have been ruling the country almost a decade, since 2010. From the start of Victor’s ruling, his party proposed changes to the Constitution in support of traditional marriage. The key factor of the raise of the “Populist Party” was poor management of the previous government. It was led by the Ferenc Gyurcsany’s, who admitted to lying to the public. Moreover, the poor control over Hungary from the EU after the enlargement of 2004 (Laczo,2018). The culmination of their prosperity was the migration crisis in 2015. Hungary was in the frontline of the refugee crisis. Victor Orban ordered to build a fence to stop the migration and mobilize propaganda to the demonization of migrants in the citizen’s eyes. After 2010, all democratic institutions were usurped by the government’s authority. The economic system was formed into a mechanism of serving the loyalists. The consequence of this soft authoritarian regime is nationalism, xenophobia and anti- European movements, which provokes crisis of the Rule of Law, in such country as Poland (Laczo,2018). The result of such approach, which became popular in Poland and Hungary, is the crisis of democracies and the rising of the new type of autocracy. It is based on the idea of self-determination, exceptionalism and separatism. Disappointments of the nation about their leaders create the opportunity for such parties to become powerful and give the irreparable damage to the whole system, as in the EU. The European Commission cannot be able to affect such governments directly because the system of the EU allows only to punish countries economically and politically. In this respect Polish and Hungarian governments can violate the law within their border without a serious effect from the European Community. Moreover to execute Article 7, which allows removing country from the EU, the European Commission should have 26 votes for that. Currently, there is vicious circle where Hungarian and Poland will never vote against each other.
This essay has evaluated the reasons of the conflict between Poland, Hungary and European Commission. This dispute about the rule of law in such countries of Eastern and Central Europe has different sources such as historical, political and national. As French philosopher Joseph De Maistre (1906) once said “Every nation gets the government it deserves”. Only people of the country can change the situation by their voice against such policy of the “soft autocracy”. In conclusion, the key feature of the country is sovereignty. The European commission can apply to the European court of Justice with complaining and worries about the situation with rule of law in Poland and Hungary but the Commission speaks on with representatives. The EU should appeal directly to the Hungarian and Polish citizens. The government has the power only if people recognize it as an authority.
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