Hélène Laporte, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) of the French Rassemblement National, said that without a clear definition of the rule of law, there is a risk that the European Commission will use the conditionality mechanism to protect the EU budget as a tool of political coercion against Hungary.
According to MTI, Hélène Laporte said in Strasbourg on Wednesday that the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament had tabled an alternative resolution in favor of Hungary, in connection with a resolution on the rule of law in Hungary and Poland, which is due to be adopted in plenary. The draft text of the EP resolution uses the concept of the rule of law, but there is no generally accepted legal definition of the concept at EU level, which leaves room for ambiguous interpretations. MEPs who backed Hungary's proposal point out that without a clear definition of the rule of law, the European Commission could use the conditionality mechanism as a political weapon. "The use of the concept of the rule of law in the absence of concrete and factual elements is suitable for political attacks," she said.
Above all, the proposal draws attention to the fact that different national jurisdictions have different interpretations of the rule of law, which means that there is no EU-wide consensus on the interpretation of the concept. Their draft confirms that the European Union has overstepped its powers when it adopted the conditionality mechanism. The proposal underlines that the EU budget should not be subject to political pressure. It also warns that the EU can circumvent procedural requirements in the case of procedures under Article 7 of the EU Treaty, which examine the risk of undermining fundamental EU values.
Laporte stressed that the conditionality mechanism is a guided political tool. The ID Group condemns any politically motivated, fact-free attack on Hungary based on a vague notion of the rule of law," the French MEP said. The group considers it unacceptable that the European Union is withdrawing EU aid from Hungary and Poland and should instead give more visible recognition to the efforts made by the two countries to receive refugees fleeing Russia's war in Ukraine," added Laporte.
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