Brussels could withdraw the right to vote to Poland

The decision to put into practice the device envisaged by Article Seven of the European Union treaty is new and is destined to create a significant precedent in the relations between European states and the central bodies of the Union. The European Commission has decided to proceed on this path, after several warnings to Poland, as many as three recommendations, twenty-five letters and several meetings between the two parties, which have always been disregarded. The facts say that Warsaw has implemented more than thirty legislative measures that have compromised the independence of the Polish judiciary, including the most relevant organs, such as the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Council of the Magistrature up to the ordinary courts. Furthermore, the Polish government is exerting pressure on the printing organs of the country, with the clear intention of stifling any form of disagreement and therefore with the aim of compressing the freedom of the press, which has always been considered a necessary element for being part of the organization of Brussels. The final result for Poland should be the loss of voting rights within the Union. However, this is not an automatic procedure, despite the fact that the violations are clear and obvious; the activation mechanism of article seven envisages, in fact, two phases, a preventive and a sanction; for the approval of the first a quorum of four fifths among the members of the Council is required for the ascertainment of the serious violation of article two of the treaty: and at this moment it seems that the orientation of the members of the council is to activate the preventive procedure of article seven. Once this first part is over, we need the proposal to activate the sanctioning phase by a third of the member states or the European Commission, with the approval of the European Parliament, finally the vote takes place in the Council where, to be approved, it must achieve unanimity of votes. This eventuality should not, however, occur because Hungary has already announced that its vote will be against. Budapest has a government that is also under observation, for violations similar to those of Warsaw and could be subjected to the same procedure, also Poland and Hungary are aligned on different subjects, such as the rejection of the distribution of migrants, which puts them in open contrast with Brussels. In truth what is emerging is a clash between the founding part of the Union and the group of Visegrad, which, in addition to Poland and Hungary, also includes Slovakia and the Czech Republic, all countries belonging to the former Soviet bloc and who of substantial contributions from Brussels, taking a hostile attitude on the division of emergencies and now also no longer respecting the Accession Treaty in its fundamental principles. The will of Paris and Berlin, although lacking a national government, to sanction the violation of the treaty is clear and is also followed by Italy and Spain: what is foreshadowed is a clash of mentality that, until now, was confined to the lack of official status and that from now it becomes an official precedent and that can start in the future an even heavier sanctioning process, in order not to admit so heavy violations of the common rules. If this path is taken, presumably there will be a clash between the advocates of national sovereignty, and then it will be possible to encourage the aggregation of the movements into account the union, and those who are inclined towards a European Union increasingly bound by common bonds, which forces from the sale of shares of national sovereignty always greater over time. This may be an opportunity to make effective membership of Europe on the principles of mutual development and not of pure and exclusive convenience; but this must be shared by citizenship, which will no longer have to perceive union as an institution fallen from on high, but as a body capable of improving the life of the European peoples by improving the condition and quality of life.