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Skomantas Pocius, a Ph.D. candidate in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, explains in The American Conservative that the European Union’s recent sanctions resolution against Hungary subversively expands the bloc’s mandate into control over issues of family and religion. Those are topics that have never been part of the EU’s purview, and for which it has no explicit power. Pocius writes:
Recently, the European Parliament voted to begin the Article 7 sanctions process against Hungary. Their resolution was a response to “a clear risk of a serious breach…of the values on which the [European] Union is founded,” and aimed “to restore inclusive democracy, the rule of law, and respect for fundamental rights in Hungary.”
The unprecedented vote to invoke Article 7 illustrates the current battle lines within the EU between those who favor a greater role for Brussels and those hoping to retain and recover national self-determination. The measure claims even more authority for the EU than at first appears. By castigating Hungary’s policies towards religion and the family, the resolution aims to extend Brussels’ reach over values and institutions that have long been left to member states. Commentators, including critics of the move, have failed to properly see this.
Read more here.
