The European Commission is preparing a reform that could completely change the way EU funds are disbursed. Professor Jacek Saryusz-Wolski warns that Brussels is building a mechanism that would allow it to punish member states under the pretext of “rule of law.”
Brussels Moving Toward an “EU State”
The European Commission’s new proposals concerning the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) include an expansion of the so-called conditionality mechanism. In practice, this means that the disbursement of money from any EU fund would be tied to meeting political conditions set by Brussels. Professor Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, former Member of the European Parliament and advisor to President Karol Nawrocki on EU affairs, does not doubt the intentions of EU officials:
“The European Commission is constructing a budgetary whip and, at the same time, a sword of Damocles that will hang over Polish democracy,” warns the expert.
According to him, the mechanism currently in force under the previous financial framework will be carried over into the new budget, but in a far more dangerous form.
“Its generalization means that its application would be extended to all EU funds and could be arbitrarily enforced based on violations of the so-called rule of law as defined by the Commission,” Saryusz-Wolski emphasizes.
€800 Billion Under the Commission’s Control
The expert stresses that this is not merely a financial issue, but a systemic transformation:
“The Commission seeks to strengthen its authority over member states, changing and centralizing the EU’s structure beyond the treaties, in the direction of building a European state in place of a community of sovereign nations,” writes Saryusz-Wolski.
He adds that the new rules would enable the Commission to force member states into reforms “according to its own discretion and ideological design,” regardless of democratic election outcomes:
“It wants to use blackmail through sanctions against member states for alleged violations of the so-called rule of law, just as it successfully practiced in the infamous case of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (KPO),” he warns.