by A.P.
Under EU law, abortion laws are decided by the individual member states, but nation states matter increasingly less to those in power in Brussels, writes Olivier Bault
The European Parliament’s response to the abortion battle in Poland foreshadows what the EU could do if it gains the power to tie the European budget to the rule-of-law mechanism. Poland and Hungary have defended against rule-of-law sanctions with their veto, but if the EU succeeds, then both countries face the threat of Brussels dictating policy for their governments on immigration, traditional values, and judicial reform
“The [rule-of-law] mechanism is neutral and applies to everybody in the same way. Everybody who respects the rule of law has nothing to fear of this mechanism,” Manfred Weber, the German head of the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament, said when Poland and Hungary threatened to veto the EU budget and recovery plan.
Yet, in the “European Parliament resolution of Nov. 26, 2020 on the de facto ban on the right to abortion in Poland”, the same Weber and a majority of his EPP group called on the Council and the Commission to use the not-yet-existing rule-of-law mechanism and to withhold funds from the 2021-27 budget for Poland as long as the homeland of Saint John Paul II will not liberalize its abortion law.
The European Parliament “welcomes the provisional agreement of 5 November 2020 on legislation establishing a mechanism that would allow the suspension of budget payments to a Member State violating the rule of law; urges the Commission to act with determination on the recently agreed conditionality for the future multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027”, the resolution says underneath accusations of rule of law violations by Poland because of a lack of access to legal abortion.