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In the last few years, the debate on the conditionality of EU funds to the principles of the rule of law topped the EU’s political agenda. The EU adopted a specific Regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget on 16 December 2020. The Court of Justice confirmed its legality on 16 February 2022, when dismissing the actions Hungary and Poland brought against the Regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget in 2021.

The EU is the world’s largest development aid donor. According to the existing legal framework, these funds are also conditioned to economic or political criteria, including the rule of law. Yet, in what way, does this framework allow the Commission to hold back development funds from a third country for Rule of Law related reasons? Is “development conditionality” comparable to “domestic” conditionality applied to EU Member states? Starting with the EU’s main regulation and focusing on two specific countries (The Philippines and Pakistan), this paper aims at shedding some light at the way the EU (and more specifically the Commission) apply conditionality to third countries.

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