The European Commission can now withhold European money if a Member State violates the rule of law. The proposal passed the legal review of the European Court of Justice.
The Polish-Hungarian appeal against the new 'state law mechanism' has been rejected by the European courts. The approval of sanctions against Poland and Hungary had been pending for some time. The Commission does not thereby exceed its competence, because it concerns the budget and financial interests of the EU.
The famous 'Article 7' already existed before. This means that the voting rights of a Member State can be suspended. This proved unworkable in recent years due to the required unanimity, with Poland and Hungary always keeping each other's hands above their heads.
According to a senior source at the Commission, it is easier to build a case against Hungary than against Poland. The tender tampering, clientelism and nepotism in Hungary lend themselves more easily to this than the more general erosion of the rule of law in Poland. In addition, Poland has already started amending the controversial law on judge appointments.
As for GroenLinks, the European Commission should freeze the EU funds for Hungary and Poland as long as they continue to violate the rule of law. If the Commission does not do this, the Greens in the European Parliament want to put the Commission under guardianship. This step had only been taken once before by the European Parliament, after which the Commission decided to resign.
Strik: “The Polish and Hungarian governments are undermining our European values, our foreign policy and the fact that EU law takes precedence over national law. This turning a blind eye is harmful to the rights of Hungarian and Polish citizens and to the interests of the European Union as a whole.
“It is right that Member States of the European Union that do not comply with the rule of law can be sanctioned.” That is the reaction of MEP Peter van Dalen (ChristenUnie) to the ruling of the Court of Justice. Malfunctioning member states have a major negative impact on the European Union as a whole, and we must be able to stop that by means of sanctions or reductions in European subsidies," said Van Dalen.