[ad_1]
Hungary and Poland lifted the veto on the EU budget 2021-2027. Agreement on #MFF and #NGEU recovery package. Now we can start implementation and rebuild our economies. Our major recovery package will drive our green and digital transitions, European Council President Charles Michel tweeted. While the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen: Europe continues! Agreement #EUCO on the next EU budget and #NextGenerationEU: 1.8 trillion euros to boost our recovery and build a more resilient, green and digital EU. Congratulations to the German Presidency of the Council. So green light from the ongoing European Council to the roughly 1.1 billion from the 2021-2027 EU budget and the 750 billion from the next generation of the EU, which are linked to the budget. Next week, the EU Parliament will have to vote on the agreement in plenary. Now the national parliaments will have to ratify the part of the new own resources that will feed the Union budget and that will allow the Commission to issue the bonds that will be used for the recovery.
Commitment
The agreement reached on Wednesday by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbn and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, on an interpretative declaration of conditionality linked to the rule of law was accepted at the beginning of the Thursday afternoon. also by the other leaders of the EU, after some doubts by the Netherlands and some frugal. The discussion was delayed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s request for a preliminary opinion from the Council’s legal service on the tripartite compromise, to be published after the summit. Rutte explained, before the work started, that he wanted to be absolutely sure that this compromise does not limit the functioning and also the scope of the regulation agreed in the trialogue between Parliament, the Commission and the Council and that he wanted to hear from President of the European Commission if violations can be reported retroactively from January 2021, if a country goes to the Court of Justice to challenge the legality of this instrument under the EU treaties. He then asked directly the President of the EU Parliament, David Sassoli, during his speech before the Council, what he thought of the compromise, as reported by Sassoli himself, who in a press conference immediately after explained that a lot of responsibility was expressed to the Council, there was less tensions than on other occasions, there have been some objections from some prime ministers, but also the will to put in place the mechanisms that we have negotiated.
Rule of law
In the form of the agreement on the link between the disbursement of funds and respect for the rule of law, except that, in fact, the commitment delays the application of the new mechanism in time at least a year and a half. Hungary and Poland return home being able to say that sovereignty is secure: the conditionality regulation will be applied for the protection of the Union budget, we read in the draft conclusions that it will not be modified, in full respect of the national identities of the Member States in terms of their fundamental political and constitutional structures. Furthermore, it is reiterated that the objective of the regulation on a general conditionality regime for the protection of the Union budget is to protect the Union budget, including the next generation EU, from any kind of fraud, corruption and conflict of interest. .
The guidelines
The Commission will formulate guidelines for the application of the regulation in close consultation with the Member States. But if an annulment action is brought against the regulation (Poland and Hungary will do so), the guidelines will be finalized after the judgment of the Court of Justice to take into account the judgment (and this will extend the term by at least a year and a half ). The measures provided for by the mechanism, the drafts continue, will only be considered if there are no other procedures established by Union law. Furthermore, the mere finding of a violation of the rule of law is not enough to activate the mechanism. The regulation will apply from 1 January 2021 and the measures will apply only in relation to budgetary commitments starting from the new multiannual financial framework, including the Recovery Fund.
