Abstract

Fiscal conditionality is reflected in EU law in several dimensions and layers. In addition to the most essential conditionality, the conditions for accession to the EU set out in the founding Treaty, there are conditionality requirements related to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and Regional Policy. Most recently, in December 2020, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation 2020/2092 on the general regime of conditionality for the protection of the EU budget. This paper analyses the evolution, objectives, and instruments of fiscal conditionality legislation of the EU. The author provides a detailed analysis of the relevant elements of the existing legislation, as well as the recent judgments of the CJEU on the subject. The article demonstrates that the Financial Conditionality Regulation is not an instrument for protecting the rule of law in general, but its general purpose is to protect the EU budget by enforcing fundamental requirements stemming from the rule of law.