THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 60 European funds, in an extensive interpretation of the concept of protecting the financial interests of the EU. Thus, the EU’s tool box for responding , where pre- vention and warning are not enough, has incorporated, along with the specific procedure of Article 7 TEU, in pursuit of, to use President Barroso’s words from 2012 again, having suitable “nuclear option” instruments: − an ambitious policy of judicial review by the Court of Justice of the EU to prevent or sanction threats or breaches brought about by the action of the in- stitutions of a state that is contrary to the proper functioning of the principles of the rule of law at national level and − a new system of budget conditionality covered by the need to safeguard the EU’s financial interests when the effective legal protection of those interests is in jeopardy because of attacks on the independence of national judicial systems. However, before entering into an analysis of the two, it would be good to first make mention, even if chronologically it was introduced later, of the so-called Rule of Law Mechanism that complements the idea underpinning the Rule of Law Framework, since it does not consist of a structured bilateral dialogue between the Commission and a state suspected of threatening the values of Article 2 TEU, rather it establishes negotiated Figure 3. A rule of law framework for the European Union