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It is not without a certain cynicism that Hungary and Poland are now suing the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against the so-called rule of law clause.
In the end, both countries only recognized the judgments of the court if it suited them.
Only a few days ago the ECJ ruled that the election of Poland's highest judge violated the independence of the judiciary.
Warsaw does not want to accept that.
Just as Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has not implemented a judgment of the ECJ from June 2020, according to which the reporting obligations for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) violate EU laws.
Nevertheless, Poland and Hungary have the right to bring an action for annulment against the rule of law clause.
They were expressly assured of this when the regulation was adopted.
Now the judges have to examine whether the reduction of EU funds in the event of certain violations of the rule of law - which, however, must have a direct impact on the use of the funds - is lawful.
The lawsuit is likely to postpone the application of the clause for a maximum of ten months.
Orbán will therefore no longer be able to benefit from his procrastination tactics in the Hungarian parliamentary elections in mid-2022.
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Whether the systematic violations of the rule of law in Hungary and Poland will actually lead to a cut in funding is another matter.
The hurdles are extremely high: In each individual case, the EU Commission has to prove that a specific violation also prevents the lawful use of EU funds.
Many violations of the rule of law are not recorded from the outset.
But politically nothing more was possible.
EU law is being broken more and more frequently, recently also in Slovenia.
In truth, the new thumbscrew that was announced with a great deal of noise is a placebo for breaking the law.
It is bitter: The legal community EU will remain quite powerless in the future in the event of misconduct against its own foundations.