Stop giving troublemakers free money

Brussels must get tough with its troublemaking members in Eastern Europe, says Ingvar Persson. It turned a blind eye to the anti-democratic policies of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, and now seems ready to overlook the assault on judicial independence by Poland’s right-wing government. So be it. But the “sabotage” of last week’s European Council summit by Poland’s PM, Beata Szydło, was a step too far. Enraged that the Council had reappointed as its president the Polish politician Donald Tusk, whom her party reviles, she vowed she’d not put her name to the Council’s collective decision. As these aren’t legally binding, this has just caused embarrassment; but down the line, when Europe has to tackle big issues such as Brexit and far-right extremism, it could cause deadlock. That’s why the EU should hit the delinquents in the pocket – “hard”. Poland gets back from Brussels almost three times what it pays (a net s9.6bn), Hungary more than five times ( s4.7bn). Yet we Swedes pay more than s4bn and take barely s1.5bn. There’s nothing wrong in principle with such redistribution. But any nation that deliberately wrecks EU cooperation shouldn’t expect Europe to give them free money.