The rule of law in the EU – An improved framework to protect the EU’s financial interests, but risks remain

Summary:

The rule of law is one of the EU’s fundamental common values. The situation has deteriorated in some member states over the last decade. The EU adopted a new instrument in December 2020 to protect its financial interests against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in EU countries: the Conditionality Regulation. We assessed whether the Commission’s application of the Conditionality Regulation was appropriate and consistent with other mechanisms available under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Common Provisions Regulation 2021‑2027 for cohesion policy. We examined the Commission’s internal arrangements for implementing the Regulation, and the actions it took to protect the EU’s financial interests under the three instruments. We concluded that, together with specific provisions of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Common Provisions Regulation for cohesion policy, the Conditionality Regulation marks an improvement in order to protect the EU’s financial interests against breaches of the principles of rule of law, and the measures taken for one country so far were in line with the Regulation. However, we also identified certain aspects of the Regulation which are difficult to apply and identified a number of risks that could significantly undermine the effectiveness of measures taken. Our recommendations are aimed at addressing these matters to strengthen the effectiveness of the framework.

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