Hungary has one month to submit its observations and any additional information, notably on the proportionality of the measures envisaged by the European Commission under the regulation aimed at suspending EU funds in the event of a breach of the Rule of law, a spokesperson for the institution confirmed on Monday 25 July.
The Commission decided, at the end of April, to initiate the procedure against Hungary that could lead to the suspension of EU funds (see EUROPE 12940/14). The Commission has not yet taken a decision on Poland.
On 20 July, the College of Commissioners discussed the next steps in the procedure against Hungary under Regulation 2020/2092 on a general system of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget.
The College has mandated the Commissioner for Budget, Johannes Hahn, to “write to the Hungarian authorities to inform them of the measures that the Commission intends to propose to the EU Council, in case remedial measures taken by Hungary are not adequate”, a Commission spokesperson told EUROPE.
This letter follows the assessment of the Hungarian response to the written notification. “The Commission considers that the reply does not adequately address all its concerns”, the source also explained.
While noting some proposed remedial measures, the majority of which were only submitted late in the night of 19 July and will therefore need to be reviewed, as well as Hungary’s draft commitments under other procedures, the Commission considers that Hungary “has not submitted adequate remedial measures under the Conditionality Regulation”.
Next steps. Hungary has one month to submit its comments and any additional information, including on the proportionality of the measures envisaged by the Commission. The country can also submit remedial measures to address the concerns raised in the written notification.
The Commission says it is “ready to pursue discussions on the adequacy of these measures”. If these remedial measures adequately address the concerns raised in the Commission’s letter, the Commission could “consider not proposing any measures or recalibrating the envisaged measures to be proposed to the EU Council”.
It should be noted that if the Commission proposes measures to the EU Council, the latter has one month to adopt, by qualified majority, an implementing decision containing the measures to protect the Union budget. In exceptional circumstances, the deadline for the adoption of the enforcement decision may be extended by a maximum of two additional months.
Under the Regulation, the Member State concerned may request that the matter be referred to the European Council before measures are adopted by the EU Council. Final decisions adopted under the Regulation are subject to judicial review by the Court of Justice.
Link to the Commission Communication of 20 July explaining the procedure: https://aeur.eu/f/2q9 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)