In a scathing resolution, Members of the European Parliament threatened to launch legal action against the European Commission if the executive releases further frozen funds to Hungary. #EuropeNews
The text, approved on Thursday afternoon with 345 votes in favour, 104 against and 29 abstentions, comes a month after the Commission unblocked €10.2 billion in cohesion funds for Hungary, allowing the country to request reimbursements of that sum.
The Commission is still withholding €11.5 billion from Hungary’s allocated share of cohesion funds and most of its €10.4-billion recovery and resilience plan, a situation that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has denounced as “financial blackmail.”
Still, the move to partially release the frozen funds infuriated the Parliament, as made clear in lawmakers’ scorching resolution, which raises the possibility of suing Ursula von der Leyen’s executive if further cash is unblocked.
The Parliament will “use any of the legal and political measures at its disposal if the Commission releases funding without the criteria being fulfilled or if it fails to ensure the full implementation of the relevant legislation, considering its responsibility to act as the guardian of the Treaties and to protect the EU’s financial interests,” the text reads.
Von der Leyen’s plea was not enough to dilute the content of the resolution, which portrays her Commission as overly lenient and careless regarding Orbán’s “deliberate, continuous and systematic efforts” to undermine the bloc’s fundamental values.
MEPs also saved some ammunition to lambast member states, deploring the Council’s inability to curtail the “abuse” of veto power and the failure to advance the Article 7 procedure, known as the nuclear option.
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The text, approved on Thursday afternoon with 345 votes in favour, 104 against and 29 abstentions, comes a month after the Commission unblocked €10.2 billion in cohesion funds for Hungary, allowing the country to request reimbursements of that sum.
The Commission is still withholding €11.5 billion from Hungary’s allocated share of cohesion funds and most of its €10.4-billion recovery and resilience plan, a situation that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has denounced as “financial blackmail.”
Still, the move to partially release the frozen funds infuriated the Parliament, as made clear in lawmakers’ scorching resolution, which raises the possibility of suing Ursula von der Leyen’s executive if further cash is unblocked.
The Parliament will “use any of the legal and political measures at its disposal if the Commission releases funding without the criteria being fulfilled or if it fails to ensure the full implementation of the relevant legislation, considering its responsibility to act as the guardian of the Treaties and to protect the EU’s financial interests,” the text reads.
Von der Leyen’s plea was not enough to dilute the content of the resolution, which portrays her Commission as overly lenient and careless regarding Orbán’s “deliberate, continuous and systematic efforts” to undermine the bloc’s fundamental values.
MEPs also saved some ammunition to lambast member states, deploring the Council’s inability to curtail the “abuse” of veto power and the failure to advance the Article 7 procedure, known as the nuclear option.
The original article contains 970 words, the summary contains 233 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!