Hungary’s EU funds: Parliament lawsuit against Commission ‘very weak’, vice president says

The chances of the European Court of Justice ruling in favour of the European Parliament’s lawsuit against the Commission over its decision to unfreeze €10 billion for Hungary are “very weak”, European Parliament vice president Katarina Barley said.

The European Parliament approved a strongly-worded resolution on 18 January pledging to bring the European Commission before the EU’s top court over its decision to unfreeze funds for Hungary, arguing that the country has not sufficiently addressed its rule of law deficiencies.

One month later and with the process underway, European Parliament vice president Katarina Barley (SPD/S&D) has expressed scepticism over the lawsuit’s viability in court.

A weak prospect

“The prospect is very weak because you always have a margin of manoeuvre, and it was the Justice Commissioner, Didier Reynders, who said that the Hungarian government has fulfilled all the milestones that were necessary,” Barley said on Thursday evening (22 February) at an event at the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin.

Despite the European Parliament sounding the alarm, “I see it not very likely that a court – even the very strong and great European Court of Justice – would actually say this has gone beyond what they [Commission] are allowed to judge themselves,” Barley, who is also the SPD’s lead candidate for the EU Election and former German minister of justice, added.

Barley is a strong critic of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and penned last year’s annual Parliament report on the situation of fundamental rights in the EU, which included a call to EU heads of state to start a proceeding that could strip Hungary of its voting rights due to ongoing breaches to the rule of law.

The Commission released €10.2 billion of funding for Hungary on 13 December, on the eve of an EU summit on support for Ukraine, in the hope of defusing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s threat to derail the negotiations and block the start of accession talks with Kyiv.

Although the green light had been expected and the Commission argued Hungary fulfilled the required milestones, the decision quickly sparked outrage, with EU lawmakers accusing the Commission of giving in to Hungary’s “blackmail”.

Barley’s comments make evident likely the inability of the Parliament to effectively influence the Commission’s decision, despite having at first sought to show muscle with multiple resolutions against Hungary.

A political stunt

It also shows that at least some members of the socialists and democrats (S&D), who were at the forefront of the resolution, are well aware that the possible lawsuit is more of a political stunt than a real challenge against the Commission.

After the Parliament’s resolution passed in the plenary session on 18 January, the Legal Affairs committee is now waiting for the legal service’s advice and will convene on 11 March in Strasbourg to decide whether to adopt a recommendation to go ahead with the court case.

If a favourable recommendation is adopted, the matter will be in the hands of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who needs to take action based on the committee’s recommendation.

If the committee recommends proceeding with the lawsuit but Metsola decides not to file it, however, the plenary would need to approve her decision.

According to Barley, the Commission rushed too much to unblock Hungary’s EU funds.

“They took the decision before the law was implemented. And as I said, Viktor Orbán is known for doing something, and as soon as he has achieved what he wants, he turns around again,” she said.

She argued that there are still key issues to be addressed to improve Hungary’s judicial system.

“Will the European Court of Justice say this does not fulfil the milestone, as I do? I don’t think so,” Barley added, arguing that the lawsuit is “more a very political sign that we do not accept this [Hungary’s rule of law deficiencies].”

[Edited by Alice Taylor]