Hello, I'm Paige and this is the Eurointelligence podcast covering current affairs in the

EU and Eurozone. I'm joined by Wolfgang and Susanna, directors of Eurointelligence in Oxford.

This week felt a bit like the calm before the storm. Rule of Law drama is ramping up while

Brexit inertia continues to exasperate. Let's start with Hungary and Poland. The EU has come up

with a new proposal to exclude Hungary and Poland from the recovery fund.

Wolfgang, why is this mechanism different from enhanced cooperation?

These methods are technically and legally different.

The European Commission is looking at various technical options.

They all have their advantages and drawbacks.

The first thing when we talked to,

and we were among the first to propose enhanced cooperation, because that's the mechanism that exists. It was created for the Eurozone, or at least it was created in its current form for

the Eurozone in the Lisbon Treaty. It came originally in the 1990s in the Amsterdam Treaty,

but it had a much more limited scope then. And that was for us the Amsterdam Treaty, but it had a much more limited scope then.

And that was for us the natural thing, but it had disadvantages, because if you read this

procedure in detail, you'll find that you cannot exclude a member state. So Hungary and Poland

could technically join it and boycott it from inside. So you have to find a way to prevent that from happening.

Now, there is a method to do so. The European Commission can exclude a member state, but it has

to have a reason. There is an appeals procedure. It has to go to the council. So it's a classic

EU backwards and forwards type of thing. And it's not going to be quick. And there may be legal

challenges, like anything,

can be challenged in the CGAEU. So you could, in the end, face serious delays. That is indeed a shortcoming. I'm also reading that the European Commission has doubts that it can actually

have a Eurobund or a budget inside the enhanced cooperation procedure, that it was not designed

...