The role of (rule of law) conditionality in MFF 2021-2027 and Next Generation EU, or the stressed budget

Conditionality requirements have been applied for decades in the Multiannual Financial Frameworks (MFF), and, over the years, these mechanisms have been extended and developed. In December 2020, the European Union legislature adopted the 'Regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget' which includes the new rule of law mechanism. According to the regulation 2020/2092, the MFF for the period 2021-2027, as well as the Recovery and Resilience Facility and React-EU, should guarantee the link between the rule of law and the disbursement of EU funds. Above all, the new regulation will have an important impact on EU Cohesion Policy from 2021 to 2027. This article will conceptualise both existing and new conditionality instruments as included in the EU Cohesion Policy, and compare them with previous MFFs in order to assess the new conditionality regulations in the context of the debate on the development of the EU budget.