{"id":3976,"date":"2020-02-20T13:09:15","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T13:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=3976"},"modified":"2020-02-20T13:09:15","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T13:09:15","slug":"jourova-law-abiding-countries-have-nothing-to-fear-from-funding-cut-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=3976","title":{"rendered":"Jourov\u00e1: Law-abiding countries have nothing to fear from funding-cut plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"art\"><figcaption>\n<p>Justice Commissioner V\u011bra Jourov\u00e1 John Thys\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<header>\n<h1>Jourov\u00e1: Law-abiding countries have nothing to fear from funding-cut plan<\/h1>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Brussels would cut off cash only in &#8216;clear-cut situation,&#8217; justice commissioner says.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<footer class=\"meta\">\n<p>\n\t\t\tBy\t\t\t<span class=\"byline\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"vcard\">Lili Bayer<\/span>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"timestamp\">5\/7\/18, 6:10 PM CET<\/p>\n<p class=\"updated\">Updated 5\/9\/18, 4:12 PM CET<\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<p>Any country that opposes a plan to link EU funds to the rule of law will be suggesting it&#8217;s not a good steward of the\u00a0bloc&#8217;s resources, European Commissioner for Justice V\u011bra Jourov\u00e1 said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The European Commission last week unveiled a proposal alongside its blueprint for the bloc\u2019s next multiannual budget that would allow Brussels to cut off EU funds if a country is deemed to not have an independent judicial system. The move was widely seen as a warning shot to Hungary and Poland, which have both clashed with the Commission over rule of law, and to other countries that may be tempted to backslide on democratic standards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf a state now protests against this, the state kind of admits that they will not be guaranteeing in the future the sound financial management and protection of EU money,\u201d Jourov\u00e1 told POLITICO in an interview.<\/p>\n<p>The Czech commissioner said the proposal is needed as, in her experience,\u00a0EU funds can attract\u00a0\u201cbig, bad people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jourov\u00e1 said she is\u00a0worried about financial accountability in some member countries. She\u00a0is lobbying for the four remaining EU countries that have not joined the European Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office \u2014 Hungary, Poland, Malta, and Sweden \u2014 to come onboard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am concerned about the low percentage of OLAF recommendations taken by the Hungarian authorities,\u201d she said, referring to the bloc\u2019s anti-fraud agency.<\/p>\n<p>OLAF has investigated allegations of misuse of EU funds in Hungary, including by a company formerly owned by the prime minister&#8217;s son-in-law. But Hungarian prosecutors have taken no serious steps to follow up on the agency&#8217;s findings, raising the ire of some EU politicians and officials.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the EU\u2019s long-term budget, the rule of law proposal would not need the unanimous consent of all member countries to be passed. Nor would all member countries have to approve a specific proposal to block funds \u2014 in fact, the targeted country would have to muster a majority to stop the measure taking effect.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission is now trying to assure member countries that the proposal does not constitute a power grab and would only apply under very concrete, narrowly defined circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>The new procedure will only be used in \u201ca clear-cut situation,\u201d Jourov\u00e1 said.<\/p>\n<p>If approved, the new mechanism would be applied when EU funds \u2014 or the judicial system that safeguards the use of the funds \u2014 is in question: Civil rights and human rights problems, for example, would not lead to EU funds being cut.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to come with a realistic proposal,\u201d Jourov\u00e1 said. \u201cThis is the compromise we made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>This article is part of <\/em><span style=\"color: #ff0000\">POLITICO\u2019<\/span><em>s new coverage of the EU budget, tracking the development of the seven-year Multiannual Financial Framework, and the first EU budget that will face a low or no contribution from the United Kingdom. This coverage includes the Budget Briefing newsletter every Monday afternoon. Email pro@politico.eu to request a complimentary trial.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<footer class=\"content-credits\">\n<h6>Authors:<\/h6>\n<dl class=\"vcard\">\n<dt class=\"credits-author\"><span class=\"vcard\">Lili Bayer<\/span>&nbsp;<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/footer>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justice Commissioner V\u011bra Jourov\u00e1 John Thys\/AFP via Getty Images Jourov\u00e1: Law-abiding countries have nothing to fear from funding-cut plan Brussels would cut off cash only in &#8216;clear-cut situation,&#8217; justice commissioner says. By Lili Bayer 5\/7\/18, 6:10 PM CET Updated 5\/9\/18, 4:12 PM CET Any country that opposes a plan to link EU funds to the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}