Is the EU rotting from within? This is the question at the heart of an internal battle involving Hungary and Poland They want to stop plans to curb EU budget payments to countries that breach its laws. Here is our FT read this week and a THREAD👇: https://www.ft.com/content/bfa58276-1868-4011-9891-ccd363dc68dc (1/9)
EU identity crisis: Poland, Hungary and the fight over Brussels’ values

The dispute over the rule of law in some countries is damaging the union’s moral legitimacy

https://www.ft.com/content/bfa58276-1868-4011-9891-ccd363dc68dc
The article points out that this problem extends far beyond Hungary and Poland - or indeed the countries on the EU’s eastern and Mediterranean island peripheries that attract most attention in this debate. 👇 (2/9)
The EU pitches itself to the world as a promoter of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It invites judgment by the highest standards. This has long left it vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy over its dealings with the world’s autocrats. 👇 https://www.ft.com/content/dba42edd-410b-44e4-a328-748e2fb3667e (3/9)
Belarus crackdown highlights EU’s autocrat problem

Critics say bloc is often reluctant to take a stand against human rights abuses

https://www.ft.com/content/dba42edd-410b-44e4-a328-748e2fb3667e
Critics say EU countries also often fail to make sufficient acknowledgement of past abuses and injustices. In a speech to African leaders this year, European Council president Charles Michel understated Europe’s imperial conquest on the continent.👇 (4/9)
Critics say EU countries also often fail to make sufficient acknowledgement of past abuses and injustices. In a speech to African leaders this year, European Council president Charles Michel understated Europe’s imperial conquest on the continent. (4/9)
Critics say EU countries also often fail to make sufficient acknowledgement of past abuses and injustices. In a speech to African leaders this year, European Council president Charles Michel understated Europe’s imperial conquest on the continent. (4/9)
Critics say EU countries also often fail to make sufficient acknowledgement of past abuses and injustices. In a speech to African leaders this year, European Council president Charles Michel understated Europe’s imperial conquest on the continent. (4/9)
In the past few years, attention has also focused increasingly on what EU nations are doing at home. Here is a powerful magazine piece by my colleague . @Valeriein140 on the impact of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's moves towards "illiberal democracy". https://www.ft.com/content/414f202e-9996-11ea-8b5b-63f7c5c86bef 👇(5/9)
How Orban’s decade in power changed Hungary

His ‘cultural era’ is transforming society, but life can be precarious for those who are not part of this worldview

https://www.ft.com/content/414f202e-9996-11ea-8b5b-63f7c5c86bef
Shortly after moving to Brussels, I reported on the 2017 murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who wrote about alleged high-level political corruption. More than three years on, her killers have still not been held to account.👇 https://www.ft.com/content/c05d6f62-b576-11e7-aa26-bb002965bce8 (6/9)
Brutal murder exposes Malta’s murky politics

Daphne Caruana Galizia was a vocal critic of the island’s political and business elite. Her killing has left unanswered questions

https://www.ft.com/content/c05d6f62-b576-11e7-aa26-bb002965bce8
The warning signs for the EU have long been there. Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who first became Italy's PM in 1994, was plagued by allegations of conflicts of interests and corruption. He was convicted of tax fraud in 2013. 👇
https://www.ft.com/content/b9ba5ea8-1833-405b-9ffc-04aed78ae802 (7/9)
Bunga Bunga podcast — sex scandals, organised crime and Silvio Berlusconi

A new Wondery series recounts how a business man became the longest serving Italian prime minister since the war

https://www.ft.com/content/b9ba5ea8-1833-405b-9ffc-04aed78ae802
There is of course no reason for British commentators to feel any sense of post-Brexit superiority. Among other things, a UK minister stood up in parliament in September and declared that the government planned to break international law.👇 https://www.ft.com/content/a20e7822-468f-4671-8e82-9dc5b5f353d8 (8/9)
UK government admits it will break international law over Brexit treaty

‘This does break international law in a specific and limited way,’ says cabinet minister Lewis

https://www.ft.com/content/a20e7822-468f-4671-8e82-9dc5b5f353d8
I write about the lore of supposed “European values” in my book The Fabulists. It recounts a defining battle of our time: between the world’s political mythmakers and those who fight, sometimes at great cost, to bring a bit of truth to the system. https://oneworld-publications.com/the-fabulists.html (9/9)
The Fabulists

We are not entering a new era of fake news - we are finally facing up to the world we live in.

https://oneworld-publications.com/the-fabulists.html
You can follow @Mikepeeljourno.
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