The European Union has for the first time initiated a procedure to reduce European payments to Hungary. Brussels believes that Prime Minister Orbán is not doing enough to combat fraud and abuse of European rules.
Under pressure from the European Parliament, the new penalty sanctions are now being applied. Similar threatening measures against Poland are being postponed for the time being.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has presumably decided this now because next week the approval of the European accounts will be on the political agenda in Strasbourg. The European Parliament had already made clear last year that it would reject the annual accounts if Hungary was not addressed.
In November, the European Commission also sent a questionnaire to Poland (regarding the controversial reforms of the judiciary). However, the procedure against Poland has not been initiated (yet). Poland is currently hosting a huge number of Ukrainian refugees. The Commission may feel this is not the right moment for a new open conflict with the Polish government.
Dutch Member of the European Parliament Sophie in ’t Veld (D66) is a strong advocate of faster implementation of the new sanction system: "Better late than never, but it is incomprehensible and unforgivable that Von der Leyen has acted so slowly. Purely because she was afraid of certain EU governments. Orbán will for now feel little pressure to change his autocratic and kleptocratic course."
GreenLeft MEP Tineke Strik stresses that the war in Ukraine only makes protecting the European rule of law more urgent: "President Putin shows what authoritarian leaders and failing rule of law states can lead to."
Despite talks between the European Commission and the Polish government, there appears to be no prospect yet of an effective restoration of the independent judiciary in Poland. GreenLeft believes that the European Commission should only agree to disburse subsidies from the Covid recovery fund to Poland if the independence of the judiciary is guaranteed. In that case, CAP agricultural subsidies can be paid out 'as usual'.