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Reawakening a debate on what the European Union...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
should do when one of its members threatens its democratic principles, the bloc's executive arm opened legal proceedings on Tuesday against Hungary, which critics contend is sliding toward authoritarianism.
It had been more than 10 years since the union faced a similar dilemma, when an Austrian coalition government included a far-right party. Austria was forced into semi-isolation when the bloc's other countries severed political ties.
The government of Hungary, by contrast, is being taken to task on technicalities rather than the wider claims that it is undermining democracy, centralizing power and destroying pluralism.
On Tuesday, the European Commission, the union's executive arm, said it was starting proceedings over Hungarian measures that threaten the independence of the country's central bank and its data-protection authority, and over rules on the retirement age of judges. Ultimately, Hungary can be forced to change rules that breach European law or, if it refuses, can be taken to the European Court of Justice.