December 10th local time, the leaders of the 27th EU held a summit in Brussels to reach an agreement on the implementation of the previously formulated recovery package.
According to CNN on the 10th, European Commission President von der Leyen said on social media on the same day that the leaders of the 27 EU member states have reached a consensus on the EU’s long-term budget plan.
She said that the long-term budget totaling 1.8 trillion euros (including the 750 billion euros rescue fund of the coronavirus recovery plan) will be used to build a more resilient, greener and more digital Europe.
The EU recovery package must be approved by the European Parliament and all member states before it can enter into effect. Poland and Hungary previously rejected the budget because they opposed the European Union’s link to economic assistance to rule of law issues, which led to the plan being stalled for a time. If the veto continues, the EU will move to an emergency budget from 2021.
Therefore, under the mediation of Germany, the Presidency of the European Union, the EU has provided guarantees on how to apply the new conditions. Ultimately, the rule of law provisions will continue to exist, effective from January 1 next year, but Poland and Hungary can request the European Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the provisions.
The European Court of Justice must make a judgment before the European Commission drafts the guidelines that trigger the mechanism.
