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

(Case C-157/21) (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 - Article 311 TFEU - Article 312 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, of the second paragraph of Article 296 TFEU, of Protocol (No 2) on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and of the principles of conferral, legal certainty, proportionality and equality of the Member States before the Treaties - Alleged misuse of powers)

(2022/C 148/11)

Language of the case: Polish

Parties

Applicant: Republic of Poland (represented by: B. Majczyna and S. Żyrek, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: Hungary (represented by: M.Z. Fehér and M.M. Tátrai, acting as Agents)

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

Interveners in support of the defendants: Kingdom of Belgium (represented by: M. Jacobs, C. Pochet 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, A. Tokár, and by K. Herrmann, acting as Agents)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders the Republic of Poland to bears 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, Hungary, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Finland, the Kingdom of Sweden and the European Commission to bear their own costs.

(1) OJ C 138, 19.4.2021.