The General Counsel advises to dismiss the appeals presented by both countries against this budget mechanism
The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) already advances its ‘no’ to Hungary and Poland. The appeals that both countries presented to try to invalidate the principle of conditionality that prevents the transfers of European funds to partners who violate the rule of law should be dismissed, according to the recommendation expressed this Thursday by the attorney general Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona.
It is a prior, non-binding step, yes, to the foreseeable final judgment that the Luxembourg Curia would issue (which usually heeds the recommendations of its Advocates General in eight out of ten cases). It would reinforce the thesis of the European Commission, which keeps payments for the recovery plans of these countries blocked due to the authoritarian drifts of their governments.
In his resolution, the General Counsel indicates that the purpose of the Regulation is to create a specific mechanism to ensure the correct execution of the Union’s budget. An instrument of “financial conditionality” against violations of the principles of the rule of law that may put at risk “the proper management of the funds or their financial interests.”
He also emphasizes that what is sought is that “there is a sufficiently direct link between the violation of the rule of law and budget execution, so that it is not applicable to all violations of the rule of law, but to those that have a direct connection with the management of the Union budget ‘.
But it also underlines that it is perfectly compatible with Article 7 that sanctions those States that violate these principles and that entails procedures already open against Hungary and Poland, but without practical activation (it could leave both without the right to vote in European councils).
‘The protection of the final recipients of spending programs financed from the Union budget is a typical and logical measure in the shared management of these funds, so that the financial correction adopted by the Union institutions should be supported by the The offending Member State and not pass it on to the beneficiaries of the funds, who are unrelated to this infringement, “says the ruling issued by Campos.
The Regulation only contemplates the violation of the principles of the rule of law, by a Member State, “that affects or threatens to affect, seriously and in a direct way”, the sound financial management of the budget or the protection of the financial interests of the Union, he adds.
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