European Commission President Urusla von der Leyen delivers state of the European Union address to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 14, 2022. REUTERS
STRASBOURG, France 鈥� The European Union will freeze funding for member states flouting democratic tenets and will step up its fight against corruption, the head of the bloc鈥檚 executive told her annual policy speech to European lawmakers.
鈥淲e will keep insisting on judicial independence. And we will also protect our budget through the conditionality mechanism,鈥� said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
She was referring to the EU鈥檚 鈥渃ash for democracy鈥� budget sanction that allows o stop funding to countries undercutting core tenets of liberal democracies.
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