CJEU IN FOCUS #14: Standing and the rule of law in EU funding

• Department of Law

Organised by the European Union Law Working Group, the CJEU in Focus gives an opportunity to discuss the important judgments, or in this exceptional case an order, recently delivered by the CJEU.

About the order: 

On 4 June 2024, the Grand Chamber of the General Court issued an order dismissing the action of several associations of European judges against a Council Implementing Decision setting out the Polish funding plan for its share of the Recovery Funds. Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the core funding scheme of Next Generation EU, funds are granted to Member States based on Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) which are submitted by the Member States and approved by Council Implementing Decisions. The Plans include investment and reforms, a part of which must be achieved for each disbursement of funding. The Polish plan, as approved by the Council Decision, included several reforms of the justice system. The applicants claimed that these reforms are incompatible with EU law, in particular Art. 2 and 19(1) TEU and Art. 47 of the Charter as well as prior case law of the Court.

The General Court, found that the contested decision does not directly affect the applicants in the sense of Art. 263(4) TFEU, dismissing their action. The order is highly interesting as it combines a classic of EU Law – the question of standing in annulment actions – with the increasingly important area of EU funding and rule of law jurisprudence of the Court.