The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) is expected to agree, on Wednesday 12 October, to extend the deadline for deciding on measures to protect the EU budget against breaches of the Rule of law in Hungary by a further 2 months, until 19 December 2022.
Initially, the EU Council had until 19 October to vote on the European Commission’s proposal to deprive Hungary of €7.5 billion in EU funds (cohesion policy), due to the country’s failure to respect the Rule of law.
This additional two-month period will allow the Commission and the EU Council to assess Hungary’s package of 17 remedial measures to end violations of the Rule of law. The Commission will issue its assessment of the Hungarian measures by 19 November.
According to an EU Council note, Hungary requested at the Coreper meeting on 21 September that the EU Council consider a two-month extension of the deadline for taking a decision.
According to the Council of the EU, the ‘exceptional circumstances’ foreseen in the regulation are present to justify this additional time before the EU Council votes by qualified majority on the measures proposed by the Commission.
Link to the EU Council note: https://aeur.eu/f/3jc (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)