Hungary and Poland lose EU funding fight over laws
-
Loading... - Erin Moore
- 18 Feb 2022
- 409 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
The European Court of Justice ruled that complying with rule of law was a condition of enjoying membership of the EU.
Governments in Hungary and Poland have been widely accused of backsliding on standards in recent years.
Hungary's governing party condemned the ruling as a political decision.
The ECJ ruled that "sound financial management of the EU's budget" could be seriously compromised by breaches of rule of law.
EU member states signed up to common values such as rule of law and solidarity and the EU "must be able to defend those values".
Both countries have been investigated for undermining the independence of courts, media and non-governmental organisations and both are key recipients of EU funding.
Poland was ordered last year to shut down a disciplinary chamber for judges because it was not independent, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of curbing the rights of minorities.
The EU has already frozen Covid recovery money worth €36bn (£30bn) for Poland and €7bn for Hungary, and this ruling could affect further funding.
Critics say the Commission has been far too slow to tackle the rollback of freedoms and rights in parts of the EU.
But this regulation shouldn't be over-interpreted. There are conditions attached that talk about how the mechanism should only deployed when, put simply, EU money is at risk of misuse.
If those conditions are met, there's then a process stretching over potentially many months. This isn't a catch-all way of quickly penalising a member state if it, for example, breaks from accepted EU norms on LGBT rights. Read More…
