Europe's eastern rebels expose next fault line for EU leaders

Brussels

EUROPEAN leaders are declaring the continent's financial crisis to be over, but now a political one is fermenting.

A battle between European Union regulators and the Polish government over its plans to weaken the judiciary's independence is splitting eastern and western Europe in a way that the euro region erupted along a north-south fault line. As Greece returned to the bond market last week, Poland faced the threat of unprecedented EU penalties from the first-ever probe of a member's respect for the rule of law.

The government in Warsaw is at the sharp end of a campaign to rein in errant states. Populist leaders in Poland and Hungary have been emboldened by Donald Trump's US presidency and Britain's decision to quit the EU. Yet the continent's centre has held together. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is now joined by French President Emm…