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Sweden and Finland want to tie EU farm subsidies to rule of law
The call comes after Brussels blocked billions in funds to Poland and Hungary due to concerns over judicial reforms and democratic backsliding.
Access to the EU budget should be tied to countries respecting the rule of law and fundamental rights without exception, ministers from Sweden and Finland have said.
The call comes after Brussels blocked billions in funds to Poland and Hungary due to concerns over judicial reforms and democratic backsliding.
“All member states must adhere to our common values, notably rule of law, democracy, and fundamental rights,” Sweden’s Jessica Rosencrantz and Finland’s Joakim Strand, both ministers for European affairs, wrote in a joint letter to the European Commission ahead of a ministerial meeting due Tuesday (24 September).
“All member states have of their own free will signed up to these values. However, unfortunately, reality has shown the need for an active rule of law policy,” they added.
Contentiously, they say the overhaul should also cover billions in subsidies given out each year under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which are jealously protected by farmers, especially in big producers like France, Italy and Spain.
The CAP allocates €264 billion for the 2023-2027 period, including €189bn in direct income support and €66bn for development of impoverished rural areas, but without the oversight afforded to other EU spending.
Access to other EU funding programmes such as cohesion funding is subject to meeting common “enabling conditions”, such as a member state respecting the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, without which funds can be frozen or suspended.
After a controversial judicial reform in Poland, those provisions were previously used to paralyse €76.5 billion in EU funds, an impasse which was solved earlier this year. In Hungary, a series of legal breaches immobilised almost €22 billion under the same Common Provisions Regulation, half of which still remains frozen.
Now Rosencrantz and Strand argue this system should be further expanded as a “general feature in all areas of the EU budget.”
Their letter also calls on the Commission to make “full use” of a conditionality mechanism which can freeze cash in cases where the bloc’s financial integrity is at risk, and which has so far been used just once, to deal with concerns over corruption in Hungary.
“Instead of listening to calls to weaken conditionality for administrative reasons, rule of law conditionality should be made stronger. Our taxpayers need to trust that the EU’s common funds are used appropriately and responsibly,” the ministers wrote.
Their call comes as the Commission is reportedly preparing to take action against Slovakia in reaction to legislative changes brought in by Prime Minister Robert Fico, including the abolition of the Special Prosecutor’s Office that deals with corruption-related crimes.
In political guidelines for her second term published in July, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to build a “closer link” between EU funds and respect for the rule of law.
The latest edition of the EU’s report on the rule of law, published later in July, showed that Hungary and Slovakia had made little to no progress on the previous year’s recommendations.
Von der Leyen also pledged radical overhaul of the EU budget, with programmes adapted to country circumstances and dependent on reforms.
new video loaded: Moscow Tanker Blast Most Likely Russian Missile, Video Shows
By James McManagan, Paul Sonne, Malachy Browne and Jackeline Luna
June 19, 2026
World
Man charged with attempted murder, released after allegedly forcing toddler into crocodile enclosure at zoo
Man FORCES child into crocodile enclosure
A British man has been arrested after allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo. The child suffered critical injuries, and authorities say the suspect did not know the boy as the investigation continues.
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A man was released from custody on Friday after he was charged with attempted murder for allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo.
Cambridgeshire police said that the man, who remains unidentified, wasn’t fit to be interviewed.
The boy suffered critical injuries in the incident at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Huntingdon, England, north of London.
The 30-year-old man will remain on bail until Sept. 30, pending further inquiries.
GEORGIA MOM’S WALMART TRIP DEVOLVES INTO ‘TUG-OF-WARRING’ IN DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE HER SON
A crocodile rests inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“The man, who is not known to the victim, was assessed as not being fit for interview,” police said in a statement.
The boy is in stable condition, after reportedly suffering a broken arm and pelvis.
He was saved from the crocodile by Tracey Johnson, the wife of the zoo’s owner.
MOTHER JUMPS INTO WATER TO SAVE 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WHO FELL BETWEEN CRUISE SHIP AND DOCK
“I know Tracey very well and she’s a lovely lady and it’s nothing more than I’d expect from her,” a local told BBC News. “She’d always put her own life at risk to save someone else. She’s an extraordinary lady and very brave.
The villager added that Johnson put herself in “immense danger” during the rescue.
The owners said their tropical house would remain closed until further notice.
Crocodiles rest inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy and his family following the incident that occurred today,” the owners wrote on social media.
Johnsons of Old Hurst is a farm and zoo north of London in Huntingdon, England. (Google Maps)
Huntingdonshire district councillor Charlotte Lowe said she couldn’t “fathom how it’s happened because they’ve got all the right protection and safety equipment, for want of a better word, in there,” The Guardian reported.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary for comment.
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US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his comments on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, saying she asked him “over and over” for a photo when the pair met at the G7 summit in France earlier this week.
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Following the summit, Trump told an Italian journalist that he “felt sorry for Meloni” after she “begged me to take a picture with her”.
Meloni hit back in a video posted to social media, branding Trump’s claims as “completely made up” and insisting that neither she nor Italy begs anyone for anything.
The once close pair’s relationship has grown increasingly fractious in recent months, particularly since Rome refused to provide the US support for its operations in Iran and after Meloni defended Pope Leo XIV, who was criticised by the Trump administration over his remarks on the war and the US’s immigration policies.
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Saturday. “She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon”.
“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!!” Trump added.
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