The European Commission recently sent letters to Poland and Hungary ahead of a possible triggering of a mechanism that allows the suspension of EU funds in case of violations of the Rule of law, according to EU sources contacted on Monday 22 November (see separate news item).
The letters, signed by the Director General of DG Budget, Gert-Jan Koopman, were sent on Friday 19 November.
In these letters, the Commission asks Poland to explain the problems of the lack of independence of its judicial system and the questioning of the Rule of European law.
On the Hungarian side, the Commission refers to problems with public procurement, conflicts of interest and corruption. The Commission is asking 16 specific questions of the Hungarian authorities on issues such as conflicts of interest, beneficiaries of EU funding and how judicial review by independent courts is guaranteed.
These countries have two months to respond to the letters. Poland and Hungary have brought an action for annulment of the regulation in question before the Court of Justice of the EU, which is expected to rule by early 2022.
The Commission prefers to wait for the Court of Justice ruling before taking action. However, it said that it had started gathering information to build up files, hence the requests for explanations. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)