BERLIN (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said it was an absolute necessity to link the distribution of European funds to rule of law standards in member states, especially when the sums to be handed out were so vast. “Upholding the principles of the rule of law is an absolute necessity,” he told a conference shortly after Hungary and Poland vetoed a European Union finance proposal that would have let them be deprived of funding from the bloc if they failed to meet minimum rule of law standards.