MEPs want to sue the Commission if it does not soon apply new rules to protect the EU budget against countries like Hungary or Poland. Spicy: Poland’s Prime Minister visits parliament next week.
If Mateusz Morawiecki had any illusions that his appearance in the European Parliament could be easy, the Justice Committee has now destroyed them. The Polish Prime Minister will discuss the rule of law in his country with MPs in Strasbourg on Tuesday. And just before this debate, the Justice Committee demanded by a large majority that the EU Commission quickly increase the pressure on the subject.
In the committee, 13 MPs spoke out in favor and only three against, that the European Parliament should sue the Brussels authority for inaction if it does not finally get the new one Rule of law mechanism apply to the EU budget. These rules, which have been in effect since January, allow the Commission for the first time to cut EU funds or delay payments if the rule of law in the recipient country does not work and the independence of the judiciary is restricted. The prerequisite, however, is that the grievances endanger the proper use of the money. That would be the case, for example, if judges and investigators no longer dare to take action against corrupt government agencies.
The hot candidate for the first application of these rules is Hungary, where corruption is a major problem and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is governing increasingly authoritarian. In Poland, the independence of the judiciary is also threatened. However, according to Commission officials, it would be difficult to use the rule of law mechanism against Poland because it is not easy to prove that the correct use of the funds is in jeopardy.
The dispute over the rule of law between Poland and the EU is likely to come to a head after the Constitutional Court in Warsaw ruled last week that EU law was partially incompatible with the Polish constitution. This judgment is the reason for Morawiecki and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to appear in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
The Commission is already preparing cases
The MPs there will certainly again warn von der Leyen to apply the rule of law mechanism. Already in June, the President of the Parliament, David Sassoli, threatened letter to the “Dear Ursula” an inaction complaint. Because it did not go ahead, the Committee on Legal Affairs now voted to submit this complaint to the European Court of Justice. Sassoli has until November 2nd for this.
The Commission stresses that it is already preparing cases. However, Hungary and Poland sued the rule of law mechanism in March; Earlier this week, the EU court in Luxembourg negotiated it. And an EUsummit last December decided that the Commission would not initiate proceedings until the Court of Justice had ruled on such a case. In this respect, the impatient MEPs will have to wait a little longer.