The European Court spoke on a rule-of-law issue, but it is not the important decision yet

HUNGARY - In Brief 03 Jun 2021 by Istvan Racz
Today's news is that Hungary lost on a rule-of-law issue at the European Court. But just to clarify, it was not the much awaited crucial decision, which is due on the conformity of the newly approved fiscal rule-of-law mechanism with EU law. The Court rejected a Hungarian complaint, by saying that a September 2018 vote by the European Parliament, according to which the EU should start an Article 7 procedure against Hungary, was legal. This decision is not particularly important. The Article 7 procedure against Hungary, and a similar one against Poland have essentially stalled. None of the EU Presidencies have put it forward for a vote in the European Council, as moving on with the procedures towards eventual sanctions would require a four-fifth majority vote, and deciding on the sanctions themselves would require a unanimous decision. Meeting the first criterion is less likely, and the second one would be almost impossible. It was exactly this problem why the EU moved on to the creation of the newly approved fiscal rule-of-law mechanism, which appears much easier to activate, once the European Court has decided that it is in conformity with EU law.On this latter, much more important issue, the Court's decision is still expected before end-2021. At this moment, the is no further news on the issue. And no news is good news, for the Hungarian (Polish, etc.) government at least.

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