Is Ursula von der Leyen's EU Commission inactive when it comes to protecting EU money?
At least that's what the European Parliament accuses the authority of - and takes the case to the highest EU court.
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 filed the lawsuit on Friday at the request of Speaker of Parliament David Sassoli, a spokeswoman said.
The procedure is almost unique: So far, the European Parliament has first sued the EU Commission before the ECJ.
It is expected that the EU Commission will act consistently and implement what Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said in the recent plenary debate on the rule of law, said Sassoli.
"Words have to be followed by deeds."
The background to this is the EU rule of law mechanism, which has been in force since the beginning of the year.
It provides that EU countries can reduce funds from the joint budget if there is a risk of the money being misused because of violations of the rule of law.
The governments in Hungary and Poland fear that the new procedure will primarily be used against them.
You have therefore brought an action against the regulation at the ECJ - the proceedings are still ongoing.
The EU Commission actually only wanted to act when the ECJ had decided on the lawsuits from Hungary and Poland.
It also provides for an agreement between the heads of state and government.
With it, the governments in Budapest and Warsaw were persuaded last year to give up their blockade of important EU budget decisions.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had spoken out in favor of waiting for the ECJ decision.
At the end of last week, after an EU summit, Von der Leyen made it clear that she would follow this line.
You want to wait for the judge's verdict and consider possible consequences, she said.
The European Parliament had already decided in June to start the procedure for the so-called failure to act against the EU Commission and thus to put pressure on von Leyens authority.
In mid-October, the responsible legal committee then voted to actually file the lawsuit.
A little later, Sassoli commissioned the legal service to prepare the lawsuit.
The EU Commission always emphasized that the preparations for proceedings according to the mechanism are underway and that no case will be lost.
Critics accuse both the Hungarian and Polish governments of influencing the judiciary contrary to EU standards.
They also see a threat to the EU budget because, as a rule, national law enforcement authorities and courts are responsible for investigating possible misuse of EU funds.
dpa