Published: Share: The Socialists and Democrats called on the European Commission to trigger the EU’s new budget conditionality mechanism and bring forward the first cases against governments disrespecting the rule of law, without any further delay. In the plenary session in Strasbourg today, MEPs debated the EU’s mechanism that makes the rule of law a condition for national and local authorities to access EU funds. The S&D Group reminded the European Commission of its role as guardian of the EU treaties to ensure EU law is applied by all EU governments. The EU is built on the rule of law as a foundation and the S&D Group believes it is high time to trigger the rule of law mechanism and apply the conditionality regulation that has been in force since 1 January 2021.