Problem Child

NEED TO KNOW

POLAND

Problem Child

From the headlines, one would think Poland is at war with the European Union.

The Central European country is “fighting” bureaucrats in Brussels. Local pundits call on the EU to be “tougher.” Newspapers described the 27-nation bloc, the most important conglomeration of democracies in the world and one of the globe’s largest economies, as using money as a “weapon.”

In fact, there is no hot conflict. Instead, Poland and the EU are in a kind of cold struggle over whether the EU can uphold (or dictate, depending on one’s view) legal standards in the country despite the opposition of its elected conservative government, which itself is fracturing, Bloomberg reported.

“The evolution of these disputes is relevant for the future of the European Union because pervasive nationalist sentiments in Europe mean that the prospect of additional...