The new agreement on the rule of law conditionality: a possible solution?

13 novembre 2020 European Politics

Laura Sanz 6 min

After years of institutional debate on how to combat rule of law backsliding within the European Union, the European Parliament has reached an agreement with the Council linking EU funds to rule of law compliance. This means that the European Union will stop funding those national governments that threaten the rule of law, with the aim to get them to respect fundamental values listed in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union. This may not put an end to the problem the EU is currently facing vis-à-vis Hungary and Poland, but it represents a step torwards triggering further initiatives and maybe future reforms to the Treaties’ acquis.