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The comments come as the union is increasingly divided over the degree of multinational bureaucracy it deserves to have over the decisions of individual member states, amid an ongoing dispute between Brussels, Poland and Hungary. Addressing Express. co. uk, Professor Hadfield, head of the political branch at the University of Surrey and an expert on European politics, said the EU deserves to be “flexible” on “national individualities”, especially when it comes to new membership applicants. Ukraine.
The EU has accused Hungary of regressing in democracy in recent years, while Viktor Orban and his ruler have been accused of restricting freedoms, adding expression and academia.
According to a democracy index, Hungary is among the freest nations in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, but since 2015 it has fallen to the lowest level among its neighbors.
Similar claims have been made against Poland, but the EU opted to take legal action against it when a constitutional court last year said a component of Polish law took precedence over EU law, in direct contradiction to the bloc’s rule of law precept that puts the EU’s first.
Since October, the EU has fined Poland £1 million (£846,000) per day for breaching EU rules by maintaining its court to hire and dismiss judges.
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In May this year, it estimates that it had accumulated €160 million (£137 million) in fines, which the EU had started deducting from invoices to Poland, adding from its Covid recovery fund.
But despite this continued punishment, Professor Hadfield agreed that a uniform view of democracy is “not generic. “
Professor Hadfield said that “this is a general law” and “a global norm”, which the EU “is beginning to understand”.
She explained: “I know that the European Union has made wonderful efforts, like all of Western Europe, in fact, from 1648 until the Treaty of Westphalia. You know, “That’s how we create a state, that’s how we govern a state, that’s our norm. “
“First of all, this is not true; it will have to be considered as a general value. But secondly, the way it is interpreted, implemented and evaluated in any state is likely to be different, even from its neighbor, and will vary depending on how you are likely to interpret some of the more generic things like human rights or the functioning of a judicial system, etc.
Professor Hadfield disagreed with the view that the EU “now has a fragmented understanding of democracy”, despite the apparent cracks.
As a recipient of a £658,000 grant through Horizon Europe to provide a critical assessment of illiberalism in Eastern Europe, she instead said that “it will have to be understood that something resembling democracy is one of the many guiding standards, but its implementation is more likely to vary”.
Professor Hadfield said: “I think a smart example here is the difference between a European directive and a European regulation: a regulation is paramount, surely you comply with it to the letter; for the directive, you put it into effect at local level.
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“And I wonder if that’s where democracy goes: you have to agree that this is the way you’ve chosen to run your state, everybody has one vote. But Latvian democracy will be different from French democracy.
Criticism of Brussels’ refusal to fund Poland increased with Poland’s reaction to the invasion of Ukraine: in addition to the 3. 2 million Ukrainian refugees it welcomed with open arms, it reacted much faster with military aid than Western member states.
Professor Hadfield commented: “Poland has been controlled to some extent to rehabilitate itself, due to the number of Ukrainian immigrants it has received.
“So there’s an attractive new size in the way it has controlled to revive its identity as a progressive member state. “
The European policy expert wondered if he would be able to help rebuild Ukraine and, in doing so, “whether he feels he can still articulate those fundamental EU values, or whether he needs to do so in a way that still represents a powerful anti-physicality. “-EU Government”.
He added: “Ukrainian democracy as a whole, as we rebuild it, will have to be based on [Ukraine], having lost it for some time.
“So I’m not going to say it’s express for a case study, but I think we want to perceive that there are national individualities, and the more flexible the European Union can be in that regard, that’s good. “
Anti-EU sentiment is something Britain knows well, and many have questioned whether Poland can be the next country to withdraw from the bloc. But Professor Hadfield said Brexit is a completely different matter.
She explained: “Brexit was a shock, because I don’t think they [the EU] realised how well the British were in terms of leaving.
“In a sense, they didn’t leave because they never joined. We have signed some treaties, but the concept of fitting into a member is very difficult. “