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Dispute over the rule of law – Hungary and Poland rebuffed at the European Court of Justice – News

16 February 2022

If an EU country violates basic values such as democracy, the protection of minority rights, or if its judicial system is not independent of politics, then EU funds for this member country can be cut or withdrawn altogether.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has declared this new regulation to be legal.
The judges in Luxembourg have dismissed complaints from Hungary and Poland.

In doing so, they paved the way for the application of the so-called rule of law mechanism. Specifically, it is about a “regulation on the conditionality of the rule of law”, which has been in force since the beginning of 2021. However, the EU Commission did not want to apply the law until the EU’s top judges declared it legal.

The regulation is intended to ensure that violations of the rule of law, such as the separation of powers, no longer go unpunished if they threaten to misuse EU funds in a country. Poland and Hungary see each other as the focus and have therefore complained to the ECJ. Ironically, they sued the same panel of judges whose judgments they dispute in another context.

«Today’s judgment from Luxembourg is a success for the European Parliament. For years, Parliament has been looking for ways to sanction violations of the rule of law. The pressure on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to apply the mechanism as quickly as possible is increasing. The mechanism has actually been in force since January 2021, but von der Leyen wanted to wait for the judgment of the European Court of Justice first because of political flirtation among the heads of state and government.

If the President of the Commission is serious about her statements on the rule of law and a union of values, she should act now. However, Ursula von der Leyen has shown in the past that she is more likely to be pressured by the Member States than by Parliament. Hungary and Poland will probably not simply accept today’s verdict. So the pressure on the President of the Commission remains.”

Blocked payouts to Poland and Hungary

The rule of law mechanism was decided in principle by the heads of state and government in the summer of 2020, when they approved the EU budget and the huge Corona reconstruction fund.

Poland and Hungary resisted for a long time, but finally gave in after both countries received a promise that they could submit the new instrument to the judges of the ECJ for assessment.

The EU Commission has so far blocked all payments to Poland and Hungary from the reconstruction fund.

“Each case is carefully examined”

After the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on the rule of law, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dampened expectations of imminent penalties against Hungary or Poland. In a first statement in Brussels, the German politician underlined her determination to protect the EU budget.

Your authority will now first thoroughly analyze the reasoning behind the judgment and possible effects. In the coming weeks, the guidelines for the application of the mechanism will then be decided.

Von der Leyen emphasized that the Commission has been monitoring the situation in all EU countries since the regulation came into force a year ago. Each case will be examined in detail. “If the requirements of the regulation are met, we will act decisively.” She promised that no case would be lost – and kept that promise.

According to a first reaction from Hungary, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) made a “politically motivated ruling”. This is because Hungary recently enacted a law on child protection, Justice Minister Judit Varga writes on Twitter. “The decision is living proof of how Brussels abuses its power.”

Varga alluded to a law passed last year to protect children and young people in Hungary from certain content and depictions of sexuality. Critics see this as an attempt to exclude homosexual and transsexual people and to cut off young people from information on these topics. The EU had therefore initiated infringement proceedings. The process is not related to the rule of law mechanism.

It is still unclear whether and how quickly funds will be cut. There are also political considerations: Poland has recently given cautious signals of a rapprochement with Brussels.

In Hungary, parliamentary elections are due in early April. Should the EU Commission trigger the rule of law mechanism beforehand, this could be understood as interference in the election campaign.

Poland has criticized the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on the EU’s new rule of law mechanism as an attempt to rob member states of their freedom.

The EU is changing from an area of freedom to an area where force can be used unlawfully to deprive member states of their freedom and limit their sovereignty, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said in Warsaw. “This is about brutal power and its transfer to those who, under the pretext of the rule of law, want to exercise this power at the expense of the member states.”