[ad_1]
Hungarian and Polish Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán and Mateusz Morawiecki praised the decision made at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday regarding the rule of law conditions related to the EU budget. Both prime ministers indicated that they would exercise their right to bring the issue of the new mechanism before the Court of Justice of the European Communities. However, Vera Jourová, vice president of the European Commission, said she expected a speedy procedure.
At the European Council summit on Thursday, the EU heads of government and state approved the German proposal to link the rule of law to EU funds, which the German government holding the rotating presidency negotiated on Wednesday with the governments of Hungary and Poland. As a result, an agreement could be reached on the Union’s budget for the next seven years and an associated recovery fund to mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus epidemic.
Although the decision was (re) evaluated by everyone as a victory, the details are still hidden in the details. Based on the first information, the adopted text is the same as the proposal developed by the Germans, which was leaked on Wednesday. Based on this, it is known that there will be a rule of law criterion, but additional guidelines will be prepared for this. The scope of the mechanism will be limited and will essentially only apply to fraud, corruption and conflicts of interest affecting EU funds, that is, the mere finding of an infringement of the rule of law is not enough to activate the mechanism . And the mechanism will only be applicable from the 2021 financial cycle.
We have to wait for the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU
Furthermore, the mechanism will not be armed until the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled on the compatibility of this regulation with EU legislation. However, this will require a Member State to initiate the so-called invalidation procedure, which, as expected, will be used by Hungary and Poland.
Following the decision, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Mateusz Morawiecki announced at a press conference with the Polish Prime Minister at the Polish Mission to the EU in Brussels that Hungary would exercise its right to bring the Regulation on the Rule of Law mechanism to the Court Court of Justice of the European Union to determine its compatibility with EU legislation. – development of the MTI report.
The Polish Prime Minister confirmed that Poland is following Hungary by seeking the opinion of the EU Court of Justice on the compatibility of the mechanism with European treaties. He said that it had not yet been decided whether the claimant would file the application separately or jointly with the two countries. “We have the right to do it, so we will,” Morawiecki added.
In this regard, several commented that this option could delay the application of the mechanism by up to two years, which would otherwise be the average duration of said judicial process. However, if either party requests that the procedure be accelerated (the plaintiff, which in this case is the Member State before the Court, or the defendant, which is the European Parliament and the Council), the procedure can be shortened to 4 -6 months. However, in principle, an expedited procedure can only be ordered for overriding reasons, such as when the delay threatens irreparable or serious damage.
Will there be an expedited procedure?
According to Politico, the vice president of the European Commission, Vera Jourová, said after the decision that she would not expect a long delay if Hungary or Poland decided to take the mechanism to the EU court. 2 months).
“I understand that some Member States want to obtain great legal certainty from the Court of Justice of the European Union in such an important case. They have the right to do so,” the Commission’s Vice-President for Justice said in a statement sent to Politico in an email. electronic. However, he also added that he expects the process to move forward quickly. In his opinion, here we can speak of months rather than years.
[ad_2]
