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When the European Union’s top court this week cleared the way to cut billions of euros in funding for Poland and Hungary over violating democratic rights, it was a big win for women’s rights groups, who have been sounding the alarm against the conservative Polish leadership for chipping away at the rights of the country’s women and girls.
In a landmark decision, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Wednesday ruled in favour of making members’ access to EU cash handouts conditional on them complying with the EU’s core values and laws.
The ruling on the “conditionality mechanism” infuriated Poland and Hungary, who have both been treading on thin ice in recent years with regard to the EU’s wider rights principles. Warsaw responded by slamming the decision as “worrying and dangerous” for its sovereignty, while Hungary, whose populist government faces an election on April 3, denounced it as “politically motivated”.
Most of their fellow EU members, however, hailed the decision. France described it as “good news” while the Netherlands said it was an “important milestone”. The message from human rights groups was crisp and clear: ”Hungary and Poland have been rapidly backsliding on media freedom, independence of judges, the right to protest. Instead of trying to oppose EU funds being conditional on respect for the rule of law, they should respect people’s rights and clean up their act,” Amnesty International said in a statement. Women’s rights groups in particular, including the Centre for Reproductive Rights and the Federation for Women and Family Planning, welcomed the decision, noting Poland’s current laws “endangers women’s lives”.
“It is incredibly important that the European Union takes these kind of actions to put as much pressure as they can on the Polish government to stop this very grave crisis,” Leah Hoctor, the regional…
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Source : france24
