In December 2022, the Member States adopted the Hungarian recovery plan but conditioned the disbursement of funds to a series of rule-of law reforms. Similarly, the Polish government has undermined the independence of the judiciary since coming to power in 2015, and has been trying to backtrack on certain measures since the beginning of 2023 in the hope of releasing funds from the European recovery plan. Hungary has also 6.4 billion EU funds frozen for non-respect of rule-of-law principles and both countries have their cohesion funds suspended due to non-compliance with the Charter of fundamental rights. What is the situation today as regards to the access to these various EU funds by Hungary and Poland? What amounts are currently suspended by each mechanism and what conditions are imposed on each country to lift these suspensions?

Eulalia Rubio, Senior Researcher at the Jacques Delors institute, will help us clarify this issue.