More certainty about the EU's rule-of-law mechanism

HUNGARY - In Brief 01 Feb 2022 by Istvan Racz

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After a long series of various speculations, it has been officially announced that the European Court will declare its ruling on the legality of the EU's new fiscal rule-of-law mechanism on February 16. On the same topic, EU's law enforcement commissioner, Didier Reynders said that the decision is coming too late for the EU Commission to take appropriate action against Hungary on its basis before the latter's parliamentary election, scheduled for April 3.As we reported earlier, the widespread expectation is that the Court will decide against Hungary (and Poland). In December, the Court's advocate general responsible for the case issued the opinion that applying the rule-of-law mechanism is legal. So, rule-of-law concerns in a particular member state represent a legitimate basis for the EU to block that member's access to EU funds if and to the extent the said concerns threaten the appropriate use of EU funds in that member state.The Hungarian government, including PM Orbán, have given signals recently that they also expect the Court to decide against Hungary.It is no surprise either that the EU Commission is not preparing to take action against Hungary on the basis of the Court's upcoming decision before April. It is part of EU culture that the organisation refrains from taking action that might influence member state elections. In addition, doing so could play to Fidesz' hands, as the governing party could argue that the West is trying to manipulate election results. Fidesz will be claiming that anyway, as they have already made comments in that direction, but these claims will likely work less efficiently if no EU action is taken on rule-of-law matters prior to the v...