On Monday evening, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted for an action for annulment against the European Commission (16 in favor, 1 against). The reason for this step is the decision of the European Commission to release 10 billion euros of EU funds to Hungary ahead of the European Council summit in December. Only hours later, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government withdrew its veto against Ukraine’s EU accession. There are reasons to believe that the European Commission did not base its decision on the facts in Hungary but was guided by political considerations.

Daniel Freund, Member of the European Parliament for the Greens, comments:

“EU funds should only be disbursed if the rule of law is guaranteed. We have serious doubts that Ursula von der Leyen respects this principle in dealing with Hungary. 10 billion euros were released for Viktor Orbán without the necessary reforms being fulfilled. Even worse, there is suspicion that the Commission allowed itself to be blackmailed by Orbán. This should not be possible in the EU. That’s why we are suing before the CJEU.”

These are the next steps:

Group leaders are expected to confirm the decision in Thursday’s Conference of Presidents in order to give EP President Metsola the green light to take the Commission to court before the deadline for filing a lawsuit expires on March 25th.

On average, the duration until the verdict is approximately 19 months for annulment actions – however, the ECJ can initiate an expedited procedure on its own initiative.