Poland and Hungary face another defeat at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

If it is up to Advocate General Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, who delivered his Opinion on Thursday, two actions for annulment, with which the countries oppose a regulation to protect the rule of law, must be rejected.

EU funds can therefore be withheld if a member state violates the rule of law.

However, one violation is not enough; it must affect the use of EU funds.

Marlene Grunert

Editor in politics.

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From the Polish and Hungarian point of view, there is no legal basis for the regulation; it is also incompatible with Article 7 of the EU Treaty, the so-called rule of law mechanism. The EU Advocate General sees it differently. He referred to the competence of Parliament and the Council to enact budgetary rules. The regulation does not circumvent Article 7 either, on the contrary, it is different from it. This applies not only to the necessary link between the rule of law and the budget.

The Article 7 procedure allows the Council to respond to serious breaches of all Union values. Here, on the other hand, it is a matter of a specific instrument solely for the protection of the rule of law. The Court of Justice has also already ruled that the violation of the values ​​of the European Union has consequences - even without recourse to Article 7. The mechanism regulated there creates political pressure; however, because of the unanimity requirement, it has been hopeless for some time.

The regulation, which is now being negotiated before the ECJ, was passed in December 2020 after tedious negotiations. Poland and Hungary assured the commission at the time that they would wait for the judgment of the ECJ before triggering the mechanism. The European Parliament then went by storm and sued the Commission for inaction. You expect them to act consistently, said Parliament President David Sassoli. For the first time in history, Parliament had sued the Commission by then.

The process was also remarkable in that Warsaw, at least, can hardly be blamed for corruption.

At least that is how the responsible EU authority OLAF sees it.

With regard to Hungary, the Commission has meanwhile considered making use of the new mechanism even before the ECJ ruling.

Now one wants to wait for the decision, as originally promised, also in this case.

It will be in a few months.

The judges are not bound by the requests of the advocates general, but they often follow them.