Budapest and Warsaw will take the EU rule of law mechanism to court

“…what is unlawful cannot be left without a word! We can’t keep that EU legislation in force, which seriously infringes legal certainty, thus, as we promised last year, we are challenging the rule on conditionality before the Court of Justice of the European Union, together with Poland. Let common sense win again!” – wrote Minister of Justice Judit Varga in her Facebook post on Thursday, confirming that Budapest and Warsaw will take the EU’s January 1 rule of law mechanism to the EU Court.

https://www.facebook.com/VargaJuditMinisterofJustice/photos/a.2028879340464345/4198935733458684/?type=3

The Minister also wrote on Facebook concerning the measures taken thus far: “The left went too far when it launched an attack on Hungary in the middle of the pandemic. We repelled this attack and managed to defend Hungarian interests concerning the EU budget.”

The rule of law mechanism came into force on January first after heated debates; due to its politicized nature, Hungary and Poland planned a veto on the EU budget and coronavirus rescue fund. At last year’s December EU summit, a joint Hungarian-Polish-German proposed resolution was adopted which, among other things, provides an opportunity to challenge the rule of law mechanism in court. Following the Council resolution, the majority left-wing European Parliament has basically been pouting since the end of last year, fearing that nations’ leaders overrode their will. An EP debate was held on the applicability of the contested mechanism on Thursday morning.