Quote (Goomshill @ 16 Feb 2022 12:59)
Its pretty bad timing that the west blinking against Russia is coming right as the EU's high court drives home the fatal wedge between the western EU and Poland/Hungary;
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/16/eu-court-dismisses-polish-hungarian-challenge-to-rule-of-law-mechanism.htmlWith the EU threatening to freeze all payments to Poland and Hungary in an attempt to have Brussels usurp their local governance and force them into changing their internal politics to mirror their French and German masters, it could prove the pivotal issue in a sea change of post-Brexit dissolution of the European Union. Hungary is at its most fervent pro-EU sentiment of all time but that comes only as the EU pumps huge amounts of money to them, the top issue voters regarded in their pro-EU opinions. Just a few months ago Magyar Nemzet ran a front page article saying "Its Time to Talk About Huxit", which triggered a major backlash. With this decision, Hungary is going to have a dramatic political shift, and the gears are going to start turning towards Huxit. Polexit also goes from grumblings in the fringe to a real possibility. Poles have tolerated all the abuse from the EU as long as the money kept flowing to them.
Russia has its wedge handed to them on a silver platter, once again. The EU just cannot help itself. They constantly find new ways to divide themselves and self destruct, and Russia only has to sit back and watch their NATO rivals turn on one another. The green movement that obliterated Germany's domestic energy production and made them suckle at Putin's teat? That wasn't some Russian plot. The flood of migrants? Russia just rustled them up in the mideast, they had no way to force the EU to take them, the EU did it to themselves. And now at the same time Russia is encircling Ukraine, the EU is withdrawing its support from Poland. Hope the Poles get over their historical aversions to slavs in the next 20 years
Poland has undergone a meteoric economic rise in recent years and is predicted to become a net contributor, rather than beneficiary, of the EU budget from 2027 onward. Hence, they might actually be able to cope with the loss of EU funding a lot better than many think. Hungary might be another story though.
Quote (fender @ 16 Feb 2022 15:09)
hungary and poland leaving the EU would be awesome. they are massive drains on our budget, while consistently refusing to contribute to solving crucial issues. recent developments saw severe restrictions of press freedom and democratic principles, like a true separation of powers, in those countries, which clearly goes against EU membership requirements. still don't expect it to actually happen though, the billions they receive are just too sweet for them, their economies would be in shambles without us... still good they are finally being held to account though.
Oh yeah, core EU values like separation of powers and an independent judiciary. Maybe the EU should sue Germany, where a Merkel loyalist was giving a fiery speech defending his mistresses policies in parliament one day and was appointed to become chief justice of Germany's supreme court the next week (in spite of being badly underqualified for this job), followed by Germany's supreme court issuing one courtesy ruling after another whenever controversial or consequential government policies were heard.