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The European Parliament in Strasbourg (archive photo)
Photo: Rolf Haid / picture alliance / dpa
In the dispute over a new procedure for punishing violations of the rule of law within the EU, negotiations between the Representation of Governments and the European Parliament have begun.
"I am - with all caution - very confident that it will (...) be possible to find a common position," said Ambassador Michael Clauss on Monday as representative of the German EU Council Presidency at the beginning of the talks in the evening.
In the end, you ultimately pursue a common goal.
For the first time in the history of the EU, a mechanism should be created to protect the EU budget if, for example, courts could not act completely independently.
The negotiations are particularly explosive because the governments in Hungary and Poland are threatening to block important EU decisions on the long-term community budget if the new rule of law mechanism is introduced.
This could mean, for example, that the planned Corona economic stimulus program cannot start.
At the end of September, however, a majority of the EU states voted to start negotiations with parliament on the mechanism.
Parliament wants to make the instrument of punishment even stricter than intended by the majority of EU countries.
In EU circles it is therefore expected that the negotiations could drag on for several weeks.
Among other things, the proposal on the table provides for cuts in EU grants if breaches of the rule of law have a sufficiently direct impact on the financial management and financial interests of the Union.
The EU Commission originally proposed that penalties should be made possible if a lack of the rule of law threatens to impair the basic requirements for sound financial management.
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pgo / dpa