The EU parliament is suing the European Commission for releasing just under £9bn in frozen funds to Hungary.
Parliament president Roberta Metsola announced the move today during a meeting with political leaders, with a March 25 deadline for submitting the lawsuit.
It piles pressure on Ursula von der Leyen as she attempts to secure a second term as president of the commission vowing to stand firm on the rule of law, a sensitive issue that has absorbed a lot of the energy of her first mandate.
Her European People’s Party (EPP) did not oppose the vote on Thursday but blamed the entire College of Commissioners rather than von der Leyen herself.
MEP Petri Sarvamaa told Euronews: “We want to make sure that taxpayers’ money has been treated in accordance with the treaties. This is not a political issue for the EPP, this is not an election issue – we only want to have legal clarity.”
Lawmakers were infuriated by a commission decision to unblock the cohesion funds for Hungary in December, which it had been unable to access due to persistent deficiencies in the rule of law.
The commission argues that he release was justified because Budapest had in May last year passed a reform to strengthen judicial independence and mitigate political interference in the courts.
Parliament challenged the reasoning and said the overhaul was not up to the task, while raising eyebrows over the fact the cash had been released just before an EU summit at which Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban had threatened to veto key agreements on Ukraine.
A resolution, which was broadly approved by MEPs in January, raised the potential for legal action and said “in no way can the EU give in to blackmail and trade the strategic interests of the EU and its allies by renouncing its values”.
In a statement, the parliament said: “Hungary does not meet the standard of judicial independence set out in the (EU treaties) as the measures adopted do not ensure sufficient safeguards against political influence and can be either circumvented or inadequately applied.”
Just days after the resolution was backed, MEPs grilled commissioners Didier Reynders, Nicolas Schmit and Johannes Hahn for striking what they described as a backroom deal with Orban to ensure the lifting of his veto in return for the cash.
Commissioners stood their ground on the move saying Hungry had provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate compliance with the rule of law.
Brussels is still withholding a similar amount of cash from Hungary’s allocated share of cohesion funds and most of its recovery and resilience plan, a situation which Orban has repeatedly denounced as “financial blackmail.”
Each cash injection is subject to different sets of conditions that require legislative changes in fields like LGBTQ+ rights, asylum policy, public procurement and anti-corruption. Commission officials say little to no progress has been made by Hungary.
