Six Member States (Austria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) are calling for a “firmer and more consistent” application, after 2027, of European Union rules making the granting of European funds conditional on respect for the rule of law and the values guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“EU taxpayers’ money should not be available to those who breach these fundamental values”, say these countries in a note sent to the other national delegations on Tuesday 12 May.
In their view, clarification is required for the legislative proposal on which the future national and regional partnership plans, which will implement agricultural and cohesion policies in particular, will be based. For example, in the event of a breach of the EU’s fundamental values, any decision to suspend funds should be taken by the Commission, or even by the Council of the EU, on condition that the EU Council can only reject a proposal by a qualified majority of Member States (‘reverse QMV’).
The six countries also suggest restricting the possibility of reallocating part of the suspended European funds in the event of non-compliance with the rule of law and the fundamental values of the EU. They consider that the reallocation threshold (30%) in the legislative proposal is too high.
Furthermore, convinced that the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) must be more robust than the current MFF, the signatory countries want to see conditionality/rule of law mechanisms strengthened “in other parts of the future EU budget, such as the European Competitiveness Fund”.
See the letter from the six Member States: https://aeur.eu/f/lwi (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)