Judgment_paragraph 178 · Republic of Poland v European Parliament and Council of the European Union (C-157/21)

178Fifthly, as regards the criticisms of the alleged absence of a requirement to demonstrate the existence of a sufficiently direct link between the breach of a principle of the rule of law and the protection of the budget or financial interests of the Union, it must be recalled that Article 4(2) of the contested regulation makes the adoption of appropriate measures under Article 4(1) conditional on the existence of a breach of the principles of the rule of law which concerns situations or conduct of the authorities that are relevant to the sound financial management of the Union budget or the protection of the financial interests of the Union. In addition, in accordance with Article 4(1) of that regulation, only breaches of those principles which affect that sound financial management or those financial interests ‘in a sufficiently direct way’ or which seriously risk affecting them ‘in a sufficiently direct way’ may justify the adoption of measures under that regulation.