Friendship generates goodwill and friends in need of favours can usually expect offers of help and understanding. The European Union’s political culture attaches a premium to co-operation and solidarity because the club cannot successfully function without them.
Member states only lose the goodwill of their partners in extreme circumstances. A country which tramples over the EU’s rules, procedures and values will lose trust and goodwill and will eventually find itself in trouble when it needs political support and approvals. This is not an iron law and smaller member states are much more likely to pay a price for bad behaviour than …read more
Source: European Voice
