申論題

   Europe has a rising autocratic movement that the continent’s leaders have no clear strategy for confronting. The pandemic has strengthened the most autocratic EU governments in Hungary and Poland. Other countries have put a higher priority on fighting the virus and helping the economy than trying to stop the erosion of democracy. Hungary’s governing party, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has undermined democracy by changing election rules, packing the courts with allies and insisting on uncritical media coverage. Orban has used the virus as an excuse to centralize authority even further. Poland’s governing party, led by Jarosław Kaczynski, has taken a similar approach, mostly by neutralizing the judicial system. When the EU expanded to include Hungary, Poland and six other countries in 2004, the bloc’s leaders made the mistake of assuming that Eastern and Central Europe were on a one-way path to democracy and the rule of law. As a result, the EU did not create an easy process for punishing countries that move away from democracy. There are no easy answers here. Allowing autocracy to flourish may encourage its rise in other countries. But confronting it risks pulling the EU apart.