What is ‘rule of law conditionality’?

In December 2020, an EU regulation on ‘a general regime of conditionality for the EU budget’ was passed. The resulting ‘rule of law conditionality’ is considered a significant step towards greater accountability and punitive measures for EU member states who breach the rule of law.

It is unlikely to be used until late 2021 at the earliest as member states Hungary and Poland have challenged the legality of this rule of law mechanism in the European Court of Justice.

Read more about what the EU can do to respond to member states’ breaches of the rule of law here.