While Europe was busy disciplining Hungary and Poland, the far-left Socialist government of Spain, preparing for re-election, surreptitiously smuggled its politicians into the Constitutional Court.

The Commission’s own studies do not justify the profound concerns about corruption and the rule of law in Hungary that the EC tends to cite during the negotiations.

In an exclusive presentation at MCC, Minister Tibor Navracsics addressed the question of the EU Recovery Funds, as well as the current state of the negotiations between Brussels and Budapest.

Of course, violations of the rule of law must not lead to corruption or abuse of power in the member states. However, a schematic “transfer” of the institutions that serve the rule of law to the EU level could particularly endanger the essence of the rule of law.

Brussels’ ongoing battle with Poland and Hungary over the supposed rule-of-law violations shows why we might need to rethink the whole integration project

Hungary is sending a clear message: no one shall try to enter the EU through Hungary illegally, it will not be successful.

The societal offensive undertaken by the European Commission must be contextualized within a more subtle mutation, implicit in the recent history of the Old Continent.