Op-Ed: “The July 2020 Special European Council, the EU budget(s) and the rule of law: Reading the European Council Conclusions in their legal and policy context” by John Morijn

Cash meets rule of law

The European Council Special Meeting dealing with the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and Next Generation EU (NGEU)/EU Recovery Fund-negotiations on 21 July 2020 unanimously agreed on rule of law protection and -conditionality language. A ‘no rule of law, no money’-logic had already been strongly advocated for by the Commission in a 2018 proposal that is currently still pending. Many observers had drawn attention to the necessity of rule of law conditionality in the key of MFF discussions specifically (see, ex multis, here, here and here); some, however, also cautioned against such an approach or strategy (see here and here). Yet, the ink of the texts had barely dried for them to be read and explained