Can Hungary and Germany Kiss and Make Up?

"For now, we have agreement between Warsaw, Budapest and Berlin," Gowin, a moderate in Poland's ruling coalition, was reported as saying. "I believe this agreement will also include the 24 remaining European capitals."

No details of the compromise have been released, but reports mention a special clause will be attached to the mechanism, defining what would be considered a breach of the rule of law and allowing targeted countries to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union before any funds are actually suspended.

This would effectively postpone the rule-of-law mechanism entering into force until mid-2022, just after Hungary's next parliamentary elections are due to be held.

A deal would be a huge relief to the EU and Germany, as it will release much-needed funds to member states. But the fallout from this, and other spats over the past few years, is that relations between Hungary and Germany, both nominally run by fellow Christian democratic governments, are in a deep freeze, with the root cause of the conflict being differing views on the EU's future development.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses a meeting where the program of governing Fidesz party for the European Parliamentary elections is presented in Budapest, Hungary, 05 April 2019. The inscription reads: 'For us Hungary is first!' EPA-EFE/SZILLARD KOSZTICSAK Barbed (wire) insults

Even though Hungary was an ally of Germany in both World Wars, Hungarian politicians have not refrained from using Germany's Nazi past, just like their Polish colleagues, as a bat with which to bash Berlin.

Tamas Deutsch, a Hungarian MEP from the ruling Fidesz party, has compared Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People's Party Group - Fidesz's own...