We are deeply concerned that the European Commission and the Council consider unblocking the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility funds to the governments of Poland and Hungary, and that the Commission talks about further delaying the activation of the rule of law conditionality regulation in their regard, due to the current political and humanitarian crisis following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Revising the critical decision to suspend approval of the EU recovery funding for Poland and Hungary now, would send the wrong political signal to the governments of Poland and Hungary who have made no progress in course-correction of laws, policies and practices undermining checks and balances and the overall rule of law architecture. Such a decision also risks setting a dangerous precedent and undermines the EU rule of law conditionality mechanism, designed to protect the EU budget in the long run.
As organisations working across Europe to defend fundamental rights and the rule of law, we call on the European Commission and the Council to refrain from approving recovery funds to the governments of Poland and Hungary in haste without genuine and solid guarantees that the rule of law concerns, notably regarding the lack of independence of the judiciary and anti-corruption democratic safeguards, will be resolved.