Judgment of the Court (Full Court) of 16 February 2022 — Hungary v European Parliament, Council of the European Union

(Case C-156/21) (1)

(Action for annulment - Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 - General regime of conditionality for the protection of the European Union budget - Protection of the Union budget in the case of breaches of the principles of the rule of law in the Member States - Legal basis - Article 322(1)(a) TFEU - Alleged circumvention of Article 7 TEU and Article 269 TFEU - Alleged infringements of Article 4(1), Article 5(2) and Article 13(2) TEU and of the principles of legal certainty, proportionality and equality of Member States before the Treaties)

(2022/C 148/10)

Language of the case: Hungarian

Parties

Applicant: Hungary (represented by: M.Z. Fehér and M.M. Tátrai, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: Republic of Poland (represented by: B. Majczyna and S. Żyrek, acting as Agents)

Defendants: European Parliament (represented by: F. Drexler, R. Crowe, U. Rösslein, T. Lukácsi and A. Pospíšilová Padowska, acting as Agents), Council of the European Union (represented by: A. de Gregorio Merino, E. Rebasti, A. Tamás and A. Sikora-Kalėda, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendants: Kingdom of Belgium (represented by: C. Pochet, M. Jacobs and L. Van den Broeck, acting as Agents), Kingdom of Denmark (represented initially by M. Søndahl Wolff and J. Nymann-Lindegren, and subsequently by M. Søndahl Wolff and V. Pasternak Jørgensen, acting as Agents), Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: J. Möller and R. Kanitz, acting as Agents), Ireland (represented by: M. Browne, J. Quaney and A. Joyce, acting as Agents, and by D. Fennelly, Barrister-at-Law), Kingdom of Spain (represented initially by J. Rodríguez de la Rúa Puig and S. Centeno Huerta, and subsequently by J. Rodríguez de la Rúa Puig and A. Gavela Llopis, acting as Agents), French Republic (represented by: A.-L. Desjonquères, A.-C. Drouant and E. Leclerc, acting as Agents), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (represented initially by A. Germeaux and T. Uri, and subsequently by A. Germeaux, acting as Agents), Kingdom of the Netherlands (represented by: M.K. Bulterman and J. Langer, acting as Agents), Republic of Finland (represented by: H. Leppo and S. Hartikainen, acting as Agents), Kingdom of Sweden (represented by: O. Simonsson, J. Lundberg, C. Meyer-Seitz, A. Runeskjöld, H. Shev, M. Salborn Hodgson, H. Eklinder and R. Shahsavan Eriksson, acting as Agents), European Commission (represented by: D. Calleja Crespo, J.-P. Keppenne, J. Baquero Cruz and A. Tokár, acting as Agents)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court (Full Court):

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders Hungary to bear its own costs and to pay the costs incurred by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union;

3. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Finland, the Kingdom of Sweden and the European Commission to bear their own costs.

(1) OJ C 138, 19.4.2021.