"There are no compromises to be made” when it comes to preserving the credibility of the European Union and protecting taxpayers’ money, declared the European Commissioner for Budget, Piotr Serafin, on the subject of the conditionality mechanism on Wednesday 19 March.
The European Parliament’s Committees on Budgets and Budgetary Control invited Piotr Serafin to discuss the state of implementation of the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation.
Hungary. The only Member State currently subject to measures, since December 2022 Hungary has had to adopt corrective measures to see its situation change. Hungary has already lost more than €1 billion due to breaches of the Rule of law (see EUROPE 13551/14). “If these measures are not lifted, the procedure will continue in 2026 and 2027”, warned Mr Serafin.
The European Commissioner also pointed out that, under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, “more than €10 billion will not be disbursed to Hungary”.
Other countries. While the European Commission has no other cases to announce “at this stage”, it is “closely monitoring” the situation in Slovakia, “in the light of its reform of the Penal Code last year”, Piotr Serafin explained. In addition, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has informed the European Commission of possible concerns regarding Croatia and Austria, said the European Commissioner for Budget.
The future of conditionality. The Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation could be strengthened as part of the post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, said Piotr Serafin. In collaboration with the European Commissioner for Justice, Michael McGrath, he is working to make this a general rule.
“EU funding could be granted to national measures aimed at strengthening the Rule of law”. In his view, this could, for example, take the form of funding measures to combat corruption and protect the EU’s financial interests. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)