Page 30 - bneMag April 2022 Russia living with sanctions

30 I Central Europe bne April 2022
The CJEU dismissed their claims in their entirety, eliciting fury in Warsaw and Budapest.
EU’s top court opens legal avenue to hold up funding to Poland and Hungary
Wojciech Kosc in Warsaw
Amechanism tying payouts of
EU funds to member states’ adherence to the rule of law is legal and within the bloc’s powers, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on February 16.
The ruling is a tectonic move that puts Poland and Hungary up against the wall in their spat with Brussels over how far member states can change their domestic legal orders without respecting EU laws.
It opens a way for the Commission to stop payouts to member states where disregard for rule of law, as set out in in the Treaty of the European Union (TEU), the bloc’s founding document, might impinge on sound spending of EU funds
For Poland and Hungary – which are
at loggerheads with Brussels exactly over problems in adhering to the rule of
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law – the ruling could mean that billions from the EU’s budget might become unavailable.
Poland and Hungary are both ruled by populist and Eurosceptic parties
a test at the polling stations in the autumn of 2023.
The CJEU ruling tops a series of its recent rulings, as well as those by the European Court of Human Rights
“Poland and Hungary are both ruled by populist and Eurosceptic parties with a track record of infringing upon basic rights and freedoms"
with a track record of infringing upon basic rights and freedoms. At the same time, Warsaw and Budapest are keen
to make use of billions in funding from the bloc’s common budget, as that could be instrumental in winning the next election.
There is a general election in Hungary as soon as April 3. Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party will stand to
(ECHR), that pointed to Polish and Hungarian governments’ democratic backsliding.
In Poland, the spat has centred around the government’s judicial reforms, which the EU says are compromising courts’ independence and impartiality by handing over the process to appoint judges to the parliament.