'You're powerless!' Bombshell report urges Brussels to punish states flouting 'EU values'

Brussles should be granted the power to punish rogue member states flouting “EU values” by withholding billions of pounds in funding from them, a landmark report says today. The dossier, compiled by the influential Centre for European Reform think tank, says the bloc’s current deterrents are too weak and have “proved impossible to use in practice”. 

...The CER paper states: “It cannot be right that the EU is forced by its own rules to subsidise member-states that flout EU values, and in doing so damage their own economic prospects.

“Apart from moral pressure, the EU’s main practical leverage on member-states is financial. The entire EU budget should be linked to European values, amongst them rule of law, since they are the foundation of the Union. 

“The Commission could freeze funds going to a member-state until it implemented adequate policy reforms in line with the recommendations agreed by the Council and the Commission.” 

...It warns: “A rules-based institution cannot tolerate serious breaches of its rules for very long without suffering serious damage. Loyalty to a party grouping can never justify turning a blind eye to violations of the rule of law in a member-state.

“Threatening sanctions in the form of reduced structural and investment funding from the EU for countries that are turning their back on European values would be a blunt economic instrument. But it should be possible for the EU to devise rules on the use of funds that make safeguarding the rule of law a priority.” 

The report suggests that in such circumstances cash should be diverted away from Governments, where it could be syphoned off to friends and supporters of ministers, and instead handed to local organisations.