This is quite the development! With all the cases piling up in the Court, VDL's Commission can very well be nicknamed 'We'll see you in Court'.
However, it's disappointing how selective the European Parliament is when it comes to defending the rule of law. Allowing the Commission to end the CVM for Bulgaria and Romania is very illustrative of the double standards applied
#Hungary #RuleOfLaw #CourtOfJustice #RuleOfLawConditionality #EuropeanParliament
Is Slovakia the next EU Member State for which the EU institutions will fail to act to prevent it from dismantling the rule of law, especially in an election year?
#Slovakia #RuleOfLaw #EUfunds #RuleOfLawConditionality
https://visegradinsight.eu/can-protests-in-slovakia-stop-ficos-judicial-overhaul/
In the latest CVM case, AG Campos Sanchez-Bordona sees a risk of impunity in cases affecting the EU's financial interests. And yet, the European Commission not only has not used the CVM as a sufficient ground to trigger the rule of law conditionality but also wants to close the CVM forever at a time, when this mechanism has become a powerful tool in the local and EU-wide defense of the rule of law
#Romania #RuleOfLawConditionality #CVM #CJEU #FinancialInterests #VATFraud #Corruption
4 years have passed since I last wrote for euinside. During that break, many people asked me what will happen to euinside, will we shut it down or what future for it. Well, It's my legacy, so I can't imagine shutting it down, but it will no longer be what it was. Now I will use it to write in-depth analyses on topics of interest and expertise. So, here's the 1st. A legal analysis of the CVM
When Ursula von der Leyen said in her election speech in the European Parliament on 16th July 2019 that 'there can be no compromise when it comes to respecting the Rule of Law', it was a beam of hope that the EU had finally recognized that this was its most fundamental priority if it were t ...
It seems Poland has found a way to get EU money with no rule-of-law strings attached
#Poland #ACPTradeAgreement #UkraineGrain #RuleOfLawConditionality
Another brilliant piece on how the Commission has started employing all available tools to fight rule of law backsliding in Poland and Hungary by withholding EU funds. Very informative by @kimlanelaw and @jmorijn
#Poland #Hungary #RuleOfLawConditionality #RuleOfLawBreakdown
After years of inaction, the European Commission and Council jointly acted to freeze EU funds totaling more than €28.7 billion for Hungary and more than €110 billion for Poland at the end of 2022, citing rule-of-law violations. Surprisingly, the decisions were taken not just (or even primarily) using the new Conditionality Regulation designed for that purpose. Instead, they used a variety of other legal tools to which rule-of-law conditionality was attached. It remains somewhat mysterious, however, precisely which funds and what proportion of those funds have been suspended, and how those suspensions have been legally justified. This post, a shorter version of a SIEPS paper that will be published soon, describes what we know about the complex set of funding suspensions intended to make EU Member States pay for their rule-of-law violations.
A very very important investigation by the European Court of Auditors. It has been really absurd that the Commission hasn't triggered neither the rule of law conditionality nor has blocked recovery funds for Bulgaria and Romania. It is applying the rule of law framework only selectively, it seems. Looking forward to see the outcome of the investigation
#RuleOfLaw #RuleOfLawConditionality #EUbudgetProtection #CVM
Poland is doing what Hungary has been doing - just windowdressing in the hope of getting EU money. No authoritarian regime is willing to curtail their powers on their own. And since there are elections this year in Poland, the Commission must be very careful not to repeat the grave mistake it made with Orban
#RuleOfLaw #RuleOfLawConditionality #Poland #Hungary #EUbudgetProtection
Is Orban deliberately trying to create an economic crisis in order to be able to apply for assistance under Article 143 TFEU, which comes without rule of law conditionality?
#Hungary #RuleOfLawConditionality #BalanceOfPayments #FinancialAssistance
Earlier, Politico scooped that the Commission is likely to update its proposal to the Council by reducing the amount of EU funds to be frozen. However, Markus Becker reports that the Commission is to hold its ground. If confirmed, the plot thickens
#Hungary #RuleOfLawConditionality #EUbudgetProtection
https://twitter.com/MarkusBecker/status/1601199084433448960?s=20&t=sMh525Tb-qs4Ob3JayfB0A
“EU sources: Commission likely to announce at ~16:00 that #RuleOfLaw reforms in #Hungary still not enough, and that they will again recommend member states withhold 7.5 bn € from #Orban. So now ball is back in the EU council's court. @moritzkoerner @daniel_freund @katarinabarley”
Adelina Marini
