The leaders of the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA political groups in the European Parliament wrote on Wednesday 26 August to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to call for an ambitious instrument linking the post-2020 EU budget to respect for the rule of law.
They call for the EU institutions to negotiate without delay on the European Commission’s legislative proposal, which dates from 2018.
The initiative for the letter would come from the Renew Europe group, which believes that an agreement in the EU Council on the text of the regulation on the protection of the EU budget in the event of a general breach of the rule of law in the member states “is a precondition for progress on the EU’s multi-annual financial framework” (MFF) for 2021-2027.
In particular, the four political groups call for the use of qualified majority voting in the Council to trigger possible sanctions and consider that the European Council, in the agreement of 21 July on the MFF and the Recovery Plan, has weakened the Commission’s original text (see EUROPE 12532/2).
Negotiations between Council and Parliament to finalise the compromise on the MFF and the EU Economic Recovery Plan start on Thursday 27 August (see EUROPE 12544/2).
To consult the letter: https://bit.ly/2YBfcJ4 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)