According to a ruling by the ECJ, the Commission can withhold money from member states that violate the principles of the rule of law. The two governments that are viewed most critically had complained.
Hungary and Poland may face high financial losses because, according to the EU Commission, the rule of law is being undermined there. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has cleared the way for applying the new rules for punishing corresponding violations in the EU. The judges declared the so-called rule of law mechanism “in its entirety” to be legal. This means that the Commission could soon initiate proceedings against countries such as Hungary and Poland in order to ultimately cut funds from the EU budget.
Specifically, the ECJ proceedings are about the “Regulation on the conditionality of the rule of law”, which has been in force since the beginning of 2021. It is intended to ensure that violations of principles such as the separation of powers no longer go unpunished if they threaten to misuse EU money. On the other hand, Poland and Hungary, who see themselves as the focus of the new instrument, have lodged a complaint with the ECJ. Rule of law proceedings under Article 7 of the EU treaties are underway against both countries. Despite international criticism, Poland is restructuring the judiciary, and the Hungarian government has been criticized for its refugee, media, university and judicial policies.
The EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen wanted to wait until the verdict before using the mechanism. It also provides for an agreement between the heads of state and government in the summer of 2020, with which the governments in Budapest and Warsaw were persuaded to give up their blockade on important EU budget decisions. At the same time, the Commission repeatedly emphasized that preparations for procedures under the mechanism were under way and that no case would be lost. The European Parliament, on the other hand, has been putting pressure on for a long time and has even sued the Commission for its hesitancy before the ECJ – this process is still ongoing.
Poland and Hungary get billions from the community budget every year. Funding cuts are unlikely to happen too quickly, however. First of all, there is a formal argument against this: the EU Commission wants to finalize the guidelines for the application of the procedure, taking the judgment into account.
But political considerations are probably more important: In Hungary, a new parliament will be elected at the beginning of April. If the Commission were to take the first steps beforehand, this could be seen as interference in the election campaign. It was only at the weekend that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán attacked the EU during an election campaign and also hinted at the possibility of leaving: It was waging “a holy war”, a “rule of law jihad” against his country.
Poland, on the other hand, recently indicated a willingness to compromise in the ongoing dispute with the EU over its judicial reforms. MPs from the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) presented a draft law last week that would no longer subject judges to the highly controversial disciplinary body, which the EU Commission sees as a threat to judges’ independence. In addition, Poland settled a dispute with the Czech Republic, which had also concerned the ECJ and in which Poland ignored a decision by the judges.
With material from the dpa news agency