Rule of law: European Parliament files a complaint against the Commission

The President of the European Parliament David Sassoli.

REUTERS / Francois Lenoir

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

New rebound in the tensions between Brussels, Budapest and Warsaw: the European Parliament puts the Commission up against the wall.

It must take its responsibilities against governments which attack European values, considers the Parliament.

As they had promised, MEPs walked the talk and Parliament's legal services appealed to the European Union Court of Justice against the Commission.

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With our correspondent in Brussels

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The threat of the European Parliament to lodge a complaint against the Commission has been hovering since the summer and its president David Sassoli has therefore formally implemented it, before All Saints' Day as he had promised.

"

" said the President of Parliament David Sassoli, summarizing the appeal lodged with the Court of Justice of the Union.

Beyond the striking aspect of such a legal escalation between two European institutions, the MEPs underline the seriousness of their approach;

but the European Commission actually finds itself between a rock and a hard place.

Conditionality was decided at the July 2020 marathon summit on the budget and the recovery plan.

This possibility of making the payment of European funds conditional on respect for the rule of law is supposed to have been in force since January 1;

the Commission has, moreover, noted infringements since that date, but has still not published the guidelines which should guide its application.

In fact, his hands are tied, as the Court of Justice has yet to say whether conditionality is legal.

The @ Europarl_EN's legal service just submitted the lawsuit against the European Commission for failure to apply the rule of law mechanism to the Court of Justice.

We now expect the @EU_Commission to act.

Words have to be turned into deeds.

https://t.co/FiCFnKQRhE

- David Sassoli (@EP_President) October 29, 2021

Meanwhile, the conflict over the rule of law worsens.

Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Morawiecki compares the hypothesis of a disbursement freeze by the Commission to World War III.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo retorts that such rhetoric amounts to playing with fire, that the European Union is not a cash machine.

This Friday the Polish government therefore decided to summon the Belgian ambassador.

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• European Union

• Justice

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