The question of respect for the rule of law, in order to access European funds, is coming back to the forefront of the European public debate. In order to put pressure on governments, European regional funds would be frozen.

As part of an agreement reached in December, the European Parliament introduced a reference to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as to respect for gender equality and the principles of non-discrimination, in order to establish a link with the distribution of European funds.
The framework for EU structural funds was approved in December, putting in place detailed provisions on regional spending, which makes up almost a third of the EU budget.
It is the responsibility of all parties to respect the content of the Charter since its adoption in all phases of regional spending in the EU. However, the European Commission has only recently invoked it to put countries and regions that fail to meet their obligations back on track.