The European Parliament is serious: It is suing Ursula von der Leyens EU Commission for “inaction” in the legal dispute with Hungary and Poland.
Brussels - The European Parliament is suing the EU Commission before the European Court of Justice because it has not yet applied a new regulation to punish violations of the rule of law in EU countries.
Parliament's legal service submitted the complaint to the Court of Justice on Friday at the request of President David Sassoli, a parliamentary spokeswoman said.
Poland, Hungary and the EU Commission: The European Parliament is bringing a lawsuit
A corresponding step has been discussed for a long time.
One could “not trust that the Commission will act and care if it announces it,” said Parliament's Vice-President Katarina Barley (SPD) in an interview with
Merkur.de
*
in June
.
Most recently, the Commission imposed fines on Poland *.
It was about the criticized but still not resolved work of the "disciplinary chambers" for judges of the state.
At the same time, however, the focus of the European Parliament is also on Hungary.
In the country ruled by right-wing populist Viktor Orbán, elections will take place in early 2022.
(
dpa / fn
) *
Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
.
The rule of law mechanism - and the lawsuit by Poland and Hungary
The rule of law mechanism is part of the lengthy negotiated multiannual EU financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027. The supplementary declaration on the rule of law mechanism explains that the determination of a rule of law violation alone is not enough to cut EU financial aid. Rather, it has to be shown that the breach has a negative impact on the use of EU funds.
Poland and Hungary - legal state proceedings under Article 7 of the EU treaties are pending against both countries for alleged disregard for EU fundamental values - sued the newly created rule in March before the ECJ.
According to a political agreement between the EU member states, the lawsuits actually mean that the sanction mechanism is not applied until a decision has been reached in the court proceedings.
Critics reject such influence by the EU heads of state and government on current law.
On average, proceedings at the ECJ take around one and a half years.
