In this episode of the Essential Geopolitics podcast from RANE, Emily Donahue speaks with RANE's Senior European Analyst, Adriano Bosoni. The EU budget and the coronavirus relief fund include a mechanism to link the disbursement of money to keep a strong rule of law. Hungary and Poland believe this mechanism will target them specifically. The EU has in recent years questioned some domestic policies in both countries, such as reform of the judiciary and pressure on critical media.

This has immediate implications: we are talking about a lot of money, money that countries like Italy and Spain need desperately. So, the most obvious implication is that the longer it takes for this money to be released, the slower the economic recovery in Europe. But there are even deeper implications, as Bosoni explains. To read all of RANE's security and geopolitical content, visit our site now: https://www.ranenetwork.com/solutions/geopolitical-intelligence.