So after spending a few hours trying to get through the maze of publications on #NextGenerationEU & revised #MFF proposal (thanks @EU_Commission for this beautiful bureaucratic construction), here's my 2 cents on #democracy & #RoL support. /1
Revised #MFF proposal shows a slight increase in Justice, Rights & Values Programme from €641 mio (COM proposal 2018) to €761 mio. (2020 prices). No extra money from #NextGenerationEU. ec.europa.eu/info/sites/inf… /2
This is much less than what @Europarl_EN & @EP_Justice had proposed in Jan (€1,8bn) & minimal increase if you consider context: #COVID19 puts considerable pressure on democracies & civil society. Sum also far below what the EU spends on "external" democracy promotion (€2bn). /3
In addition, very vague mention of #RoL in #NextGenerationEU recovery instrument. And vagueness is not a good sign - if not binding, member states won't care much. At this point, it could well be that EU showers autocratic regimes in money w/o checks on where the 💵 goes. /4
And if you look at the proposal, you'll see no mention of #RoL or democracy at all. Instead, the authors categorise the link to fund. freedoms as irrelevant. I get the urgency of the initiative, but this is still questionable. ec.europa.eu/info/sites/inf… /5
tldr: While #NextgenerationEU is a big step in the right direction, it falls short of putting up the "firewalls" to safeguard #democracy & #RoL in Europe. This surely has to do w/ unanimity requirement in #EUCO, but crisis situation should not lead to disregarding core values. /6
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