FILE PHOTO: European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Commission must keep putting political pressure on Hungary and Poland regarding the rule of law in both countries, a French official said on Wednesday, adding that financial pressure could be brought to bear on them as well.

“The Commission must, without any weakness, continue to apply political pressure via these procedures,” a French presidency official told reporters.

“We must also be pragmatic and lucid: The real instrument to apply pressure is money,” the official added.

“If when we discuss again about our budget framework, the Commission and European institutions observe violations of the rule of law, at this point we’ll have to draw consequences in terms of funding,” the official said.