Is it a bluff? Some in Hungary and Poland talk of EU pullout

By JUSTIN SPIKE and VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — An uptick in anti-European Union rhetoric in Hungary and Poland has some observers worried the countries’ right-wing governments might be planning to pull out of the 27-nation trade bloc. Recent statements by high-ranking politicians and pundits have called their commitment to the EU into question. Poland and Hungary both joined the EU in 2004, and polls show that public support for EU membership in the two nations is well over 80%. As the EU begins imposing financial penalties on the countries for democratic backsliding, some observers say that withdrawal threats may be a politically calculated attempt to push back against the withholding of funds.