The European Parliament will put pressure on EU Member States on Tuesday 4 October in Strasbourg to impose financial sanctions on Hungary under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation.
Budapest presented 17 measures in order to avoid the proposal to deprive the country of €7.5 billion of EU funding under the cohesion policy (see EUROPE 13024/9).
A joint meeting of the Committees on Budgets and Budgetary Control will be held on Monday 3 October in Strasbourg to discuss the proposal.
On Thursday 29 September, the European Parliament Conference of Presidents, consisting of the leaders of the political groups and President Roberta Metsola, discussed the Rule of Law Conditionality procedure with the Commissioner for Budget, Johannes Hahn.
During this exchange of views, some groups are believed to have questioned the exclusion of agricultural funds from the scope of the proposal. A majority of them are understood to have asked the EU Council to endorse the text (it has 1 month to do so), despite the encouraging measures presented by Hungary.
Mr Hahn is reported to have asked the EU Council to extend the timeframe to review the text to a maximum of 3 months.
Opinion of the EU Council’s Legal Service. EUROPE was able to view an opinion of the EU Council’s Legal Service, dated 27 September, which clarifies procedural aspects after the proposal was presented on 18 September.
“In accordance with Article 6(10) of the Conditionality Regulation, if exceptional circumstances arise, the deadline for the adoption of this implementing decision may be extended by a maximum of 2 months. Therefore, in exceptional circumstances, the deadline for the Council to adopt its implementing decision could be extended until 19 December 2022”, the opinion states.
Should the Council decide to make use of the possibility to extend the period in question, it would have to specify the exceptional circumstances justifying such an extension, the Legal Service insists.
If a blocking minority emerges during the formal vote, the proposal will be rejected, the Legal Service recalls.
Furthermore, in accordance with Article 6(11) of the Regulation, the Council may amend the Commission’s proposal by qualified majority. “Any amendment by the Council should be justified by objective reasons and supported by evidence”, the legal opinion said. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)