Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

European Parliament drops bid to force EU action on rule-of-law

European Parliament drops bid to force EU action on rule-of-law

The move came after Brussels finally threatened Hungary’s regular EU budget payments — and Parliament determined its case had fragile legal merits.
An internal EU legal battle over how the bloc should police the rule of law within its own ranks has quietly ended, POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook reported Tuesday.

The European Parliament in May dropped a lawsuit against the European Commission pressing the EU’s executive branch to immediately deploy a new power allowing it to slash funds to countries such as Hungary, Poland or Bulgaria, which have faced allegations of allowing corruption to blossom while eroding an independent judiciary.

The previously unreported withdrawal, which received no public attention at the time, occurred after two developments.

First, the Parliament’s own legal service assessed that the case rested on fragile legal grounds. Second, the Commission, bowing to pressure from Parliament and civil rights groups, did agree in April to launch its so-called rule-of-law mechanism against Hungary — the first time it had triggered the new authority.

Weeks later, senior leaders in Parliament decided to pull back the case, officials told Playbook.

A Parliament spokesperson confirmed the case had been discussed and dropped in May.

“A broad majority of group leaders were in favor of withdrawing the Parliament’s legal action against the Commission and tasked the president to withdraw the case,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The Court was informed by the European Parliament on May 18, 2022, that it wished to discontinue its action.”

Parliament originally brought the lawsuit in October of last year — a bid to pressure the Berlaymont to more assertively threaten regular EU payments for countries considered to be backsliding on the rule of law and basic democratic standards.

The Commission first acquired its rule-of-law power in early 2021, but initially refrained from using it after EU leaders asked the bloc to wait until its top court had ruled on a legal bid from Poland and Hungary seeking to invalidate the power.

In February, the court gave its blessing, freeing up the Commission to proceed. While the Commission has since moved on Hungary, it has held back from going after other countries regularly in the EU’s rule-of-law crosshairs, including Poland.

Parliament’s step-down represents a slight easing of tensions between two of the EU’s main bodies.

The institutions have been at odds in recent years over how to rein in wayward members exhibiting signs of waning democratic norms.

Hungary and Poland have been at the center of that debate, with Parliament regularly pushing the Commission to take more aggressive action in response to not just corruption concerns but also rhetoric and laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the encroachment on media freedom.

Most recently, the differing approaches were seen in the wake of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s proclamation that his country will not become a “mixed-race” country. While the Commission initially refrained from commenting directly, Parliament leaders condemned the “openly racist” remarks and argued Orbán had actually violated the EU treaties with his speech.

But it’s the Commission that carries much of the power of the purse strings. And even if it hasn’t acted as swiftly as the Parliament would like, the Commission is using its authorities to pressure both Hungary and Poland.

The institution is currently withholding pandemic recovery funds from Budapest and Warsaw over corruption concerns — an action taken in addition to the procedure targeting Hungary’s regular EU budget payments. Poland has also failed to implement rulings from the EU’s top court, further irritating Brussels.

Yet the Commission has shown more signs of resolution with Poland than it has with Hungary. The executive in June agreed with Warsaw on a roadmap of specific reforms the country could make to receive its pandemic cash. No such deal has been made yet with Hungary, at least publicly. Poland has also not faced formal threats to its regular EU budget payouts the way Hungary has.

With Hungary, any final decision over whether to slash its regular EU budget funds will come from the governments themselves. While the Commission can launch the rule-of-law proceedings, it needs to obtain a “qualified majority” from the Council — a minimum of 55 percent of EU countries representing at least 65 percent of the EU population — to approve any budget reductions.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
China Presses Netherlands to “properly” Resolve the Nexperia Seizure as Supply Chain Risks Grow
Merz Attacks Migrants, Sparks Uproar, and Refuses to Apologize: “Ask Your Daughters”
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
×