The coordinators of the political groups in the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs submitted a written question to the European Commission on Tuesday 12 January to press for rapid implementation of the regulation linking the payment of EU budget appropriations to respect for the rule of law (see EUROPE 12625/22).
Damian Boeselager (Greens/EFA, Germany), Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D, Spain), Pascal Durand (Renew Europe, France) and Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, Germany) noted that the co-legislators had agreed that the text in question should apply from 1 January 2021.
MEPs are asking the Commission to confirm that the applicability of this regulation cannot be subject to the prior adoption of any guidelines or to any additional procedure not provided for.
If a Member State brings an action for annulment of the regulation, the Commission should, according to these MEPs, “intervene in support of Parliament to defend its validity”. Hungary and Poland have announced their intention to ask the EU Court of Justice to annul the regulation in question.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission, assured the European Parliament at the end of December that the regulation “will apply from 1 January 2021” (see EUROPE 12624/11).
Link to the MEPs’ written question: https://bit.ly/39roSdS (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)