Articles for tag: EuGH, Europäische Kommission, Konditionalität, Poland, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Verfassungsidentität

Hungary, Poland and the »Community of Fate«

In February 2022, the ECJ delivered a ruling in cases brought by Hungary and Poland against the European Parliament and Council. Not only did the ruling uphold the regime of conditionality for the protection of the EU budget; it also entered into the domain of European constitutional identity. Instead of undermining the European commitment to the rule of law, Poland and Hungary may have inadvertently consolidated the place of rule of law in the heart of EU identity.

12. Juli 2022

EuGH, Europäische Kommission, Konditionalität, Poland, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Verfassungsidentität

Will the Commission Throw the Rule of Law Away in Hungary?

Kim Lane Scheppele

The Hungarian government is publicly saying that it is nearing a deal with the European Commission to unlock the Recovery Funds that have been withheld because the Commission has not yet approved Hungary’s plan for spending those funds. Apparently, Hungary has agreed to four conditions that will allow the €7bn worth of grants and about €8bn in low-interest loans to be approved. But if those are any indication of the price that the European Commission will extract for comprehensive violation of the rule of law, the European Commission is making a colossal mistake.

11. Juli 2022

EU Recovery Funds, Konditionalität, Orbán, Viktor, Rechtsstaatlichkeit

Untying the Ties that (don’t) Bind

John Cotter

In his letter to MEP Daniel Freund of 17 June 2022, European Council President Charles Michel argued that neither he, as President, nor the European Council have the power to exclude democratically unaccountable representatives of a Member State from that institution. But President Michel’s apparent recourse to a literal reading of Article 15(2) TEU – which fails to consider its relationship with other provisions relating to the composition of the European Council – is not convincing.

7. Juli 2022

Article 265 TFEU, Babis, Charles Michel, EU, European Council, Orbán, Viktor, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Wagenknecht

Staatsgeheimnisse und effektiver Rechtsschutz nach 9/11

Maria Stemmler

Staaten haben Geheimnisse, die sie nach ihren innerstaatlichen Rechtsvorschriften vor einer Veröffentlichung schützen. Besonders problematisch ist die Geheimhaltung, wenn sich das Verfahren um gravierende Menschenrechtsverletzungen dreht, die von staatlichen Stellen verübt worden sind. Hier kann die Geheimhaltung die justizielle Aufarbeitung staatlichen Unrechts beeinträchtigen oder gar ganz verhindern und den individuellen Anspruch auf effektiven Rechtsschutz leerlaufen lassen.

1. Juli 2022

EU, extraordinary renditions, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Staatsgeheimnisse

The Core of the European Public Space

Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz

Increasing the visibility of the constitutional fundamentals of the Union takes on existential importance in times of constitutional reckoning or, as some call it in more ominous terms, in times of “capitulation”. It is for that reason that art. 19(1) TEU should be amended to reflect the case law of the Court of Justice and thus to codify the core that binds the Member States to the discipline of the legal order.

30. Juni 2022

Art. 19 TEU, judicial independence, Rechtsstaatlichkeit

Covering Up and Rewarding the Destruction of the Rule of Law One Milestone at a Time

Laurent Pech

Once upon a time, when still a candidate for President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen solemnly declared: “there can be no compromise when it comes to respecting the Rule of Law. There never will be.” As it is now clear, this was just Orwellian doublespeak.

21. Juni 2022

Appeasement, Europäische Kommission, judicial independence, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Ursula von der Leyen

Censuring von der Leyen’s Capitulation on the Rule of Law

Alberto Alemanno

The spectre of a motion of censure is looming over the von der Leyen Commission. While this rather extraordinary, perhaps desperate, measure appears unlikely to attain the required number of signatures to be tabled – and even less likely to be adopted by the European Parliament –, this initiative deserves some scrutiny. Perhaps even some praise by those who still believe in the primacy of law over power.

8. Juni 2022

Europäisches Parlament, judicial independence, Motion of Censure, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Ursula von der Leyen

The European Commission Cedes its Crucial Leverage vis-à-vis the Rule of Law in Poland

Wojciech Sadurski

The worst thing about the European Commission’s decision of 1 June 2022 to approve Poland’s EUR 36 billion national recovery plan, despite this country’s very meek (to put it mildly) assurances about improvements to its rule-of-law situation, is not even its substance, bad though that is. Worse still is the sequencing.

6. Juni 2022

judicial independence, Oberster Gerichtshof Polens, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Ursula von der Leyen

Die Kapitulation

Franz C. Mayer

Im Ringen um die Einhaltung eingegangener Verpflichtungen und im Kampf für den Primat des Rechts vor der Macht ist die Entscheidung der Europäischen Kommission vom 1. Juni 2022 eine Niederlage. Dass hier etwas Problematisches passiert ist, indiziert der ungewöhnliche Vorgang, dass fünf Kommissare – und nicht die Unwichtigsten – sich im Kollegium gegen den Beschlussentwurf ausgesprochen haben.

2. Juni 2022

Europäische Kommission, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Rechtsstaatsmechanismus, Ursula von der Leyen

Competition and Conditionality

Kati Cseres

On 5 April 2022, just two days after the Hungarian national elections, the European Commission formally announced that it would apply the conditionality mechanism enshrined in Regulation 2020/2092 in relation to Hungary. In the past the Commission has frequently addressed issues related to “systemic irregularities, deficiencies and weaknesses in public procurement procedures”. In Hungary, however, it has not probed the enforcement of competition (cartel) law in public tender procedures. The Commission should seize the opportunity to act in this area.