Agreement on mechanism regarding rule of law in EU budget being concluded
04:00
An agreement on conditionality and rule of law mechanism in the EU budget was reached in negotiations between the European Parliament and the German presidency on Thursday. Decisions under the mechanism are to be taken by a qualified majority.
The agreement is preliminary because the agreed compromise must be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the EU Council (EU ministers) in the next step.
The German ambassador to the EU, Michael Clauss, expressed satisfaction with its conclusion on Thursday.
"This is an important milestone in our efforts to finalize the next long-term EU budget and recovery package. The new conditionality mechanism will strengthen the protection of the EU budget when a violation of the rule of law leads to the misuse of EU funds," he said.
Pursuant to the agreement, the decision to launch the conditionality mechanism towards an EU country will be made by the European Commission. The Council will then have one month to decide (three months in exceptional cases) by a qualified majority. Such a decision may include blocking the payment of EU funds to an EU country.
A qualified majority in the Council is achieved when two conditions are met. First, when 55 percent of member states vote in favor. In practice, this means 15 out of 27 countries. Secondly, the proposal must be supported by Member States representing at least 65 percent of the total population of the EU.
The negotiators of the European Parliament emphasized in an interview with journalists that they had agreed that the new mechanism would apply not only to the misuse of EU funds, such as corruption or fraud but also "systemic aspects related to the fundamental values of the EU, of which all Member States they must respect freedom, democracy, equality, and respect for human rights, including the rights of minorities." This may hit the interests of Poland and Hungary. Therefore, Hungarian diplomacy reacted quickly.
Hungary accused the European Parliament of "unacceptable blackmail" after announcing an agreement between the EP and the German EU presidency on the rule of law mechanism in the EU budget.
"It is unacceptable that, despite the pandemic and the serious challenges facing the European economy, the European Parliament insists on political and ideological blackmail against Hungary," Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga said.
