Rule of law enforcement through the transactional approach of the RRF: Insights from the Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, and Maltese plans

Facing a rule of law crisis since the 2010s, the European Union developed a range of politico-legal tools, which were not used to their full potential or did not have game-changing effects on domestic compliance. This dead-end situation fostered the EU’s turn to the "power of the purse" (Fisicaro 2022), as making European funds conditional upon respect for the rule of law was missing in the rule of law toolkit. Besides, the generalisation of spending conditionality as a mode of EU governance after the Eurozone crisis contributed to the ‘economisation’ of the rule of law, i.e., its integration in economic and financial instruments not initially designed to defend this European value (e.g. Coman 2022, p.109; Fromont and Van Waeyenberge 2022). The 2020s therefore represented a window of opportunity for rule of law spending conditionality with the preparation of the new budgetary cycle. The Recovery and Resilience Facility is part of this change, aiming at making member states’ economies and societies more resilient after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as addressing the country-specific challenges identified by the European Semester. Several national plans thus include rule-of-law-related milestones and targets, highlighting the new transactional approach to rule of law enforcement adopted by EU institutions. The effectiveness of this strategy is yet to be evaluated, and this perspective has both its advantages and drawbacks. Despite the 'national ownership' rule put forward in the drafting process of the plans, concerns exist over principles of transparency and democracy. This article thus intends to answer the question: How does the transactional approach of the RRF affect rule of law compliance in EU member states? Focusing on the Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, and Maltese recovery and resilience plans, this case study addresses both the effectiveness of rule of law spending conditionality and its limitations in terms of democratic legitimacy.