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The German Press Agency learned this on Thursday from a meeting between Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola and the chairmen of the parliamentary groups in Strasbourg. Earlier, Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted by a large majority on Monday evening in favor of the lawsuit at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg.
Through the lawsuit, Parliament wants to clarify whether the Commission’s decision to release frozen EU funding worth around €10 billion for the country, despite continued criticism over violations of the rule of law in Hungary, was legal. The Brussels authority justified this step by saying that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had met the necessary conditions.
Extremely rare event
It is extremely rare for the EU Parliament to refer the Commission to the Court of Justice. However, Parliament had already filed a lawsuit against Von der Leyen and her team in 2021 for initially failing to apply a then-new regime for punishing violations of the rule of law in EU countries. However, parliament withdrew the lawsuit after the authority began using the so-called conditionality regulation against Hungary in April 2022. It allows freezing of EU countries designated for Hungary if there is a risk of misuse of funds due to violations of the rule of law.
The new lawsuit is especially notable because Von der Leyen’s party friends have made no apparent attempts to prevent it. They must now ask themselves why they are not supporting their top representative on such a fundamental issue. Von der Leyen was only officially nominated by the EPP last week as the EPP candidate for a second term as president of the European Commission. EPP circles said on Thursday that opposition to the trial could have been misinterpreted as support for Orbán. In principle, they would have wanted to conduct a further legal investigation before filing a lawsuit.
Serious accusations against Von der Leyen
Political opponents have already tried in recent days to use the procedure to do political damage to Von der Leyen. “The accusation is more than embarrassing for Von der Leyen. Von der Leyen is following in the footsteps of Donald Trump, who has to lead his presidential campaign from the dock,” mocked the leader of the FDP in the European Parliament, Moritz Körner. But it is her own fault, because she is not bothered by the fact that European taxpayers have made ‘Orban’s family clan’ rich.
Professor of European law and SPD MEP René Repasi called the court case an important step “to hold the Commission accountable when dealing with autocracies within Europe.” Green MP Daniel Freund accused the committee of “horse trading”. EU money should only be available if the rule of law works.
Unclear prospects for success
It is unclear how successful the current lawsuit will ultimately be. Parliament’s legal service recently failed to reach a clear conclusion in a report on the chances of a lawsuit. First, Parliament must prove that the Commission made mistakes in issuing the decision, according to the document available to the German Press Agency. It is expected that “the Commission will put forward a solid defense” and rely on its discretion.
The legal opinion concludes that a lawsuit would raise several questions that have not yet been addressed by the Court of Justice. This makes it difficult to predict how the Court will rule in such a case. A ruling in the case is unlikely to come until next year at the earliest, long after the European elections scheduled for June and the decision on Von der Leyen’s possible second term in office.
Critics of the lawsuit therefore see significant risks. This approach will allow Orban to continue portraying himself as a victim of a political campaign by parliament. Moreover, if the lawsuit fails, there is a risk of significant damage to Parliament’s image. The expressed hope that Member States could withdraw powers from the Commission through a complicated decision-making process is completely unfounded – especially since the decision to release the funds was supported by a large majority of EU Member States.
MEPs speak of blackmail
However, MEPs – including those from the German ruling parties SPD, Greens and FDP – criticized the release of the money at the time and accused Von der Leyen of allowing himself to be blackmailed by Hungary. Orban had previously announced that he would block the start of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and a billion dollar EU aid package for the country attacked by Russia.
Agreement was finally reached at the December summit on the start of accession negotiations. The aid package was decided at a special summit in early February. (SDA)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
