In late 2020, the European Parliament voted on a new regulation that links rule of law conditionality to all EU funds under shared management as of January 1, 2021. This vote followed a last-minute compromise at the European Council on December 10 that managed to unblock the EU budget and the recovery fund scheme that were threatened by a veto from Hungary and Poland over the application of the rule of law mechanism. The implementation of the conditionality mechanism is now on hold as both governments seek its annulment before the EU Court of Justice.
At this event, we discussed the rationale for linking large transfers from the EU budget to adherence to rule of law as well as various expectations for what the new mechanism could practically achieve. Furthermore, in addition to assessing whether the adherence to fundamental common values can be regulated, we will also delve into questions of how such conditionality could be implemented in member states of the European Union.
Welcome: Ambassador Rolf Nikel, Vice President, DGAP
Chair: Milan Nič, Head, Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, DGAP
Watch the recording here: