A majority of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday 9 June in favour of the immediate application of the regulation on the protection of the European Union budget in the event of widespread failure of the Rule of law in a Member State (see EUROPE 12736/14).
The joint draft resolution, supported by the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups, to be voted on Thursday 10 June, calls on Parliament to prepare to bring an action before the EU Court of Justice against the European Commission due to the delay in the implementation of the Rule of law regulation.
Taking the Court’s judgment into account. On behalf of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, Ana Paula Zacarias recalled that two Member States - Hungary and Poland - have lodged an appeal for the annulment of this regulation (see EUROPE 12689/12).
“As mentioned by the European Council in its December conclusions and without prejudice to the Commission’s independence, the Council believes it’s important for the Commission to hear the judgment of the European Court of Justice before finalising these guidelines”, Mrs Zacarias said.
Indeed, the inclusion of the Court’s case law in the future guidelines “would increase the legal solidity of the application of the Regulation”, she said. This robustness will also facilitate a speedy process on the Council’s side once a proposal has been made by the Commission, she concluded.
“No cases will be lost”, promised EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn, confirming that the European Commission would present guidelines on the implementation of the text next week. “I see no reason to bring a case before the Court against the Commission”, he concluded.
“This is not just a retaliatory instrument, it is to protect the EU budget”, said Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, Finland). He called on the Commission to implement the regulation and to begin to think about the first cases against certain EU countries.
Birgit Sippel (S&D, Germany) denounced violations of the Rule of law in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. She warned that the European Commission would be violating the Treaties if it refused to implement the text.
“It is high time the Commission did its duty”, said Moritz Körner (Renew Europe, Germany).
Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, Germany) said: “the Commission is standing by while the assault on our values, our rights and our money continues every day. Orbán’s family and friends are continuing to steal our money!”
On behalf of the group The Left, Frenchman Younous Omarjee said that when it comes to fundamental rights, “the Commission, perhaps for lack of courage, shies away and leaves European citizens unprotected”. He called for enforcement of the regulation against States that are “happy to offend values and to descend into corruption over EU cohesion funds”.
Sovereignty. In the other camp, Gilles Lebreton (Identity and Democracy, France) considered “unacceptable” the joint motion for a resolution on the state of the Rule of law in the EU, which, according to him, “stigmatises in a caricatural way two States: Poland and Hungary”. And he warned the “political majority” in Parliament: “The EU will not survive if it continues to violate the sovereignty, national identity and constitutional and cultural traditions of its Member States”.
Ryszard Antoni Legutko (ECR, Poland), for his part, considered that the treaties do not allow for such procedures. He criticised the EU institutions for ignoring the opinions of the EU Council’s legal service and the European Court of Auditors on the mechanism. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)