Brussels lacks stomach for a fight

The decision by the European Commission not to confront Spain and Portugal in August 2016 may not be a return to normalcy, but a symptom of some new normal, one in which the centre (European Commission) is weak and leniency is the less dangerous course. Yet if the centre does not stick up for the rule of EU law, and is not prepared to bring errant governments back into line, what will hold the EU together?

The hard lesson that the national governments will have to re-learn is that what gives the EU its special character is general compliance with mutually agreed law.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Stability and Growth Pact: Council adopts recommendations on Spain and Portugal http://www.europeansources.info/record/stability-and-growth-pact-council-adopts-recommendations-on-spain-and-portugal/

ESO: Background information: Constitutional court rules changes as unconstitutional http://www.europeansources.info/record/constitutional-court-rules-changes-as-unconstitutional/

ESO: Background information: Italian banking crisis looms http://www.europeansources.info/record/italian-banking-crisis-looms/

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