"We can’t keep that EU legislation in force, which seriously infringes legal certainty," Hungary s justice minister wrote on social media, announcing that Hungary and Poland are challenging the general regulation on the rule of law mechanism for the protection of the EU s budget before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

In December, the European Council comprising the heads of state and government of the European Union reaffirmed the agreement reached at July s EU summit regarding the bloc s next 7-year financial framework and post-pandemic recovery package. A clause added to the regulation states that the rule of law mechanism for the supervision of EU funds will only be triggered if the actions of a member state are harmful to the financial interests of the European Union. This implies that the mechanism cannot be used for political purposes.

Following the affirmation of the criteria in December, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a press conference that they will exercise their right to take the regulation on the rule of law mechanism before the Court of Justice of the European Union to determine whether it is compatible with EU law.

„We can t keep that EU legislation in force, which seriously infringes legal certainty, thus, as we promised last year, we are challenging the rule on conditionality before the Court of Justice of the European Union, together with Poland,” Hungary s justice minister wrote on social media on Thursday, after Hungary and Poland initiated the procedure at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in connection with the decision. 

Poland s position is that the content of the regulation is not in line with EU law, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller stated.

„We believe that such solutions have no legal basis in the [EU] treaties because they interfere with member state competences and infringe the EU law. The disbursement of funds from the EU budget can only depend on clear, objective and specific conditions of the regulation,” the spokesman said.