Justice min: Threats to natl identity, sovereignty can't be used as blackmail

Threats to national identity and sovereignty "cannot be used as blackmail", Justice Minister Judit Varga said in an interview to public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Monday, in reference to Hungary and Poland's lawsuit against the European Union's rule-of-law conditionality mechanism. Varga said the mechanism in the EU budget linking funding for member states to the rule of law "can't be allowed to remain in effect", arguing that it infringed legal certainty. Hungary and Poland's lawsuit argues that the legislation has no legal basis and lacks clarity, as there is no definition in place for the rule of law at an international level, she said. Also, a "lower-level law" cannot be used to circumvent the bloc's founding treaties, she added.