The European Parliament is expected to ask the European Commission on 9 March to “immediately” apply the Rule of law conditionality mechanism by sending “a written notification” to the countries concerned, namely Poland and Hungary.
Regulation 2020/2092 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget allows EU funds to be suspended from countries that do not respect the Rule of law.
The draft resolution of the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left Groups welcomes the judgements of the European Court of Justice which confirmed the legality of the Regulation (see EUROPE 12892/1). The Court rejected the appeals of Poland and Hungary against the Regulation. Since then, the Commission has presented guidelines on the implementation of the text (see EUROPE 12902/21).
The draft resolution regrets that the Commission has not yet responded to Parliament’s call to trigger Article 6(1) of the Regulation and that it has not sent written notifications to the Member States concerned, but only requests for information to Hungary and Poland in November 2021.
MEPs stress that it is high time that the Commission fulfils its duties as guardian of the Treaties and reacts “instantly to the ongoing severe violations of the principles of the Rule of law in some Member States” which represent a serious danger to the financial interests of the Union. “Inaction and a lax approach towards oligarchic structures and the systemic violation of the Rule of law weaken the entire European Union and undermine the trust of its citizens”, MEPs warn, according to the draft resolution.
Link to the Parliament draft resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/lq (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)