Governments fall as the EU battles corruption

FOR THOSE worried about the health of European democracy, the departures were all the more welcome for being so unexpected. After a decade in which populist governments have undermined the rule of law and moulded the state to their advantage across central and eastern Europe, two leaders accused of manipulating the political system lost power on the same day. An election in the Czech Republic appears to have ended the tenure of Andrej Babis, the billionaire prime minister, who is under investigation for misuse of EU subsidies, which he denies. In Austria, meanwhile, an investigation into the use of government funds to buy favourable media coverage has led to the resignation of Sebastian Kurz, the chancellor—although he, too, denies wrongdoing.A bigger showdown is looming. Poland’s government, led by the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, has spent years trying to establish political control over its courts, bringing it into conflict with the EU. On October 7th its constitutional court raised the stakes by declaring that parts of the EU’s founding treaty infringe the Polish constitution, and that the final say in such conflicts belongs to Polish judges, not to the EU’s highest court. Such a break with EU treaties could force the European commission to deny Poland access to €36bn ($42bn) in covid-recovery funds. That would be the biggest escalation yet in the EU’s internal feud over the minimum democratic standards that all its members should uphold. If the commission goes ahead, it would signal a strong resolve to bring wayward members into line—and thus mark a big escalation in the long conflict.