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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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Implementing a direct, decisive and suffi-
ciently dissuasive mechanism for sanctioning
member states failing to comply with demo-
cratic norms or violating the Charter of
Fundamental Rights that curtails both their vot-
ing rights in the Council and their access to
community funds is of the utmost importance.
The EU cannot afford to tolerate the type of vio-
lations of the principles of full democracy and
the separation of powers on which it was
founded that are currently being perpetrated in
Poland simply because it is hampered by a slow,
ineffective sanction procedure requiring an una-
nimity frequently difficult to achieve. A timid
reaction now could tempt other countries to go
down the same perilous path, which would in-
evitably lead to the breakup of the Union and a
dangerous future for all.
The question now is whether the EU will be
able, in spite of the present hostile climate, to
sustain and further the convergence process so
essential to the resolution of shared problems
and maintain the principles of freedom, peace,
respect for human rights, solidarity and internal
and external inclusion, the ideals of justice and
equality and the social advances of the welfare
state. For this is what the citizens of Europe
want. If we can convince them that the EU will
uphold these principles, work to overcome na-
tional and class egotism and make European
institutions more effective and transparent, the
soft neo-fascism that now threatens us from so
many directions will not prevail.