Acta Iuris Stetinensis

Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget entered into force in January 2021. It seeks to establish mechanisms necessary to protect the Union budget in the event of breaches of the rule of law in the Member States. In simple terms, the Regulation thus becomes an instrument making the transfer of EU funds conditional on Member States’ respect for the rule of law. The aim of this study is to assess the application of the Regulation in practice from the point of view of the protection of the rule of law and its role in this respect. The discussion aims to determine whether the implementation of the Conditionality Regulation confirms its “usefulness” for strengthening the rule of law in the EU Member States. This analysis should thus allow us to determine to what extent the “EU money”, in the framework of the procedures established by the Regulation, effectively strengthens the rule of law by motivating Member States to certain behaviours. In this light, the investigation of the law in force is used as the main research method herein. The article is divided into three parts covering the origin and the analysis of the purpose and main assumptions of the Regulation in the context of the protection of the rule of law, cases of its practical application and the effects of the implementation of the Regulation together with their assessment. The analysis has led to the following main conclusions: 1. The Conditionality Regulation is an instrument that protects the budget and financial interests of the European Union – as such it protects them against violations of the rule of law and, in this light, respect for the rule of law becomes the basis and necessary condition for the effective implementation of the EU budget in accordance with the principle of sound financial management. 2. The Regulation provides for relatively clear conditions and criteria for implementing the budgetary protection procedure and a relatively clear procedure for applying safeguard measure. 3. The conditionality mechanism provided for in the Regulation, with its consistent and rigorous application, has a chance to strengthen the rule of law in the EU Member States – the case under discussion seems to confirm this thesis.