The European Recovery Fund and the EU budget await approval by the Parliament, but conflict over the rule of law issue may delay it. The European Parliament and the German presidency of the Council of the EU are pointing fingers at one another as the specter of an EU budget delay looms closer.
“It is becoming increasingly likely that the passage of the EU budget and the Recovery Fund will be delayed,” a spokesperson for the German Presidency of the Council of Europe told the press on Wednesday.
The German presidency has proposed a draft which details how countries waiting for funds may be denied them because of failure to observe rule of law in their jurisdictions. A report on rule of law in the EU has also been published on Wednesday by the Commission in an effort to clarify this issue.
But Poland and Hungary find the approach to the rule of law issue too hawkish – they are already being reviewed under Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union – Hungary for judicial independence, freedom of expression, corruption, rights of minorities, and the situation of migrant0s and refugees, and Poland with regard to judicial independence.
Then, seven other EU Member States have objected to the German Presidency draft, because, they say, it is too dovish. These countries feel that the ability for the Commission or the Council to deny funding on the rule of law issue isn’t powerful enough. They also blame the German Presidency for watering down the rule-of-law conditions to appease Poland and Hungary.
The Commission’s report on rule of law across the EU also raised hackles in Poland and Hungary. Both countries are criticised in the report, but Hungary was sharply blamed for recalcitrant behaviour. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday lashed out at the Czech EU Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency, one of the powers behind the report, for calling Hungary an “ill democracy” (in the German magazine Der Spiegel on Tuesday) and demanding her resignation.
Hungary and Poland also announced on Monday the setting up of a Polish-Hungarian institute to look at the rule of law in other countries to counter EU attacks on their records.
The Polish liberal opposition party, the Civic Coalition, said that the report was critical of the right-wing government, but not of the country itself.
“It is the current ruling team that is rated so low in the report and it’s Law and Justice (party) that is responsible for all the problems that the European Commission is referring to now,” said Civic Coalition lawmaker Kamila Gasiuk-Pichowicz.
Brussels has been “naive in the past” over rule of law breaches, Jourova told Euronews on the publication of the report. “We simply have to admit to ourselves that we were naive in the past,” regarding the application of EU values in rule of law. She went on to explain that rule of law and EU values had been taken for granted.
“It’s quite clear that we have to increase the pressure to show these are the principles of the club,” Jourova told Euronews.
The report noted rule-of-law shortcomings in all Member States, but expressed particular concern about Malta’s widespread corruption and long delays in judicial proceedings, Bulgaria’s failure to hold its prosecutor-general to account, the Czech Republic’s failure to protect whistleblowers and regulating lobbyists, and Croatia’s unwillingness to involve citizens in government decision-making.
Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders will shortly debate with MEPs on the proposed clause to make European Recovery and other budget funding conditional on respecting democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights. This would be inserted into the next EU long-term budget to correct persistent shortcomings in these areas in the Member States.
